


damaged goods

by dansmithism



Category: Bastille (Band), To Kill A King (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, Multi, alternate universe - witch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-29 02:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 59,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13917210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dansmithism/pseuds/dansmithism
Summary: Dan feeds off Kyle, Kyle gets pissy.





	1. you had my lip in your teeth

**Author's Note:**

> hahaaaaa more dumb things because reasons.

How, exactly, had he managed to get roped into this ridiculous situation? He couldn't really remember, it had been so long since the reasons had been buzzing around in his head. All Kyle really knew, right at that moment, was the fact that Dan had his mouth clamped around his wrist and was slowly, painfully, sucking the blood out of his system. 

He tried, hard, not show his pained expression whenever those piercingly blue eyes managed to glance up at him, but it was difficult to keep a neutral expression when your lover was desperately clinging to your wrist with his teeth. He also tried not to show his disgust at the way his own blood dribbled down the side of Dan's mouth whenever he briefly pulled away to take a breath. It was such a dirty, messy process and the faint twinge of rusted iron in the air was enough to make Kyle want to vomit, let alone anything else. However, if Dan wasn't able to feed on Kyle, then… Then there was the possibility that he would either get sick or, worse, that he could let the monster within take hold of his mind and force him to kill some unsuspecting fan one night after a gig and end up getting himself locked up for six to twelve months while the government ‘rewired his brain’. Whatever the fuck that really meant.

Kyle had seen the way Dan’s hunger had taken hold of him several times before. It would put him under some kind of odd trance before Kyle would shove his wrist into his face and demand that he bit into it. The blood’s affect on Dan would change every now and then, depending on how much he had taken from Kyle; sometimes he would act as if he were drunk, if not high, giggling and babbling nonsensically as he staggered about the place - other times, he would go quiet and pull himself away from everyone and everything, as if human interaction would kill him. 

“Fucking Hell!” Hissed Kyle, sensing an intense pain shoot up his arm as Dan adjusted his head slightly. He could feel the incisors cut and scrape against the inside of his arm, making his entire nervous system shake. “Take it easy, knobhead!” He commanded, sternly, locking eyes with the vampire that was currently stuck to his arm. He got a glare and a low sort of growl in response, immediately followed by the uncomfortable sensation of blood leaving his body. “I mean it.” He warned, just like all the times before. “Or else you're going to have to go to a Feeding Station from now on.” 

London had become ridden with vampires in the last thirty, maybe forty, years and the government's response (after it was proved that the creatures were, in fact, real) was to set up NHS-run Feeding Stations up and down the country and a Vampire Training Centre somewhere in Buckinghamshire to make sure that vampires obeyed the new laws put in place for the safety of the human population. They also demanded that vampires be registered and chipped at the back of the neck, just in case any of them went rogue and killed a human and they needed to be captured. Newly made vampires, rare now after an epidemic of vampire attacks back in 2012 had finally been quashed, were forced to endure six to eight months of ‘training’. What that meant was that they were forced to endure getting chipped, living on bagged blood, so that they could get used to the taste, be taught where was safe and ‘acceptable’ to feed on the human body (as well as where in public it had been deemed acceptable to feed) and how to do so, where each of the UK’s 1,500 Feeding Stations were placed, how to find and declare a Personal Feeder, what to do if their Personal Feeder fell ill, or died and, most importantly, what happened to vampires that continuously disobeyed the laws laid out before them. From what Kyle had heard, they weren't retrained after four offences, they were executed within the VTC’s walls and never heard from again. Kyle remembered that Dan had spent the full eight months at the VTC because he was having issues with feeding from the Volunteer Feeders.

He clearly wasn't having any issues with feeding now, though. Jesus ever-loving Christ. 

“Enough.” Kyle told him, just about managing to pry his arm away from Dan, who growled and angrily stared him down in response. “Don’t you fucking growl at me, you twat! You know the rules.”  
“Would you at least let me lick your arm clean like I usually do?” Dan asked, licking at his lower lip.  
“No.” Kyle said firmly, shaking his head.  
“Why?” Dan’s eyes seemed sad in that moment, like a child that had been denied sweets.  
“Because you’ve had enough for tonight.” Kyle replied, moving away from the vampire so that he could dig around the bathroom cabinets for a small First Aid Kit and a pack of wipes. “Besides that, if you weren't such a messy eater, you wouldn't have half your meal down your front and you wouldn't have to take so much from me to get any kind of nourishment in the first place.”  
“‘M not a messy eater.” Frowned Dan, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.  
“Of course you’re not.” Kyle snipped sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he set about cleaning up and tending to his newest wound. This bite would scar, he could feel it. “And I'm the Queen of England.”  
“Don't be like that.” Dan mumbled, just about managing to catch the pack of wipes Kyle had thrown at him.  
“Stop being such an arse when you feed from me, then.” Argued the keyboardist, fiddling with some gauze. “When I tell you to take it easy, that means it hurts and that you need to slow down a bit. When I tell you that you’ve had enough, that means you’ve had your fill and not to growl at me when I take my arm away.”  
“Sorry I growled at you.” Dan said quietly, after successfully wiping his face clean. “I can't help it, sometimes… You know that.”  
“There's only so many times that excuse can work on me before I end up kicking you to the curb and making you go to a Feeding Station instead.” Kyle replied, pausing his task for a moment just so that he could glare at Dan, who gave him a sheepish expression in return.  
“Please don't do that.” It came out of the vampire in a worried little whimper that honestly tugged a little at Kyle's heartstrings. Dan could be such a manipulative little shit when he wanted to be.  
“Don't growl at me again, then.” Kyle let out a harsh, tired sigh as he finished up his dressing. “Or, and I mean it, I'm walking out that door and you'll only ever see me for Bastille stuff.”  
“I'm sorry.” Dan whined, giving his feeder, his lover, a pleading look when they locked eyes. “I really can't help it.”

Kyle looked away from Dan, closed his eyes for a few seconds, took a deep breath and bit at his lower lip. On the one hand, he was fed up of hearing the same excuse being played like a broken record, but, on the other, he couldn't leave Dan. He loved Dan. He wanted to make sure that he was feeding properly. He wanted to make sure that he got enough sleep. He wanted to make sure that he was alright; keep him safe and stop the monster within from taking a complete hold over his mind. 

“I'm going to bed.” He said eventually, throwing the First Aid Kit into the sink and leaving the bathroom, pulling away as Dan tried to kiss his cheek on his way out of the door. “Don't stay up too late.”

× × × ×

When Dan had eventually come to bed, Kyle was still wide awake, lying on his side, staring at the side of his bedside table. He was still angry about the way Dan had growled at him and the painful way he had fed earlier, and that anger was consuming his thoughts. In his anger, he didn't want Dan to climb into bed and snuggle up next to him. In his anger, he didn't want Dan anywhere near him, but as soon as he felt the vampire's rather cold arm snake around him and the sweet little kisses against the back of his neck, Kyle's anger seemed to slowly disintegrate.

Jesus that boy knew how to get to him, how to get his own way, and if he hadn't been distracted by those kisses, Kyle would have been annoyed by it.

“I'm really sorry about earlier.” Dan whispered in between kisses, nudging gently against Kyle's skin with his nose. “I promise I'll do my best not to growl at you again, okay?”  
“... Okay.” Kyle sighed, allowing himself to be entranced by the vampire's actions.  
“And I'll be more careful about how I feed from you from now on.” Dan added for good measure, smiling as he trailed some kisses down to Kyle's shoulder.  
“You better.” Kyle sniped quietly.  
“I love you.” Dan mumbled into his feeder’s shoulder, adding a few more kisses as he squeezed him closer.  
“I know.” Kyle smirked. “I love you, too. Even if you are an arse.”  
“Hey, I'm trying to apologise.” Dan sniggered.  
“Even if you apologised for everything you've ever done wrong, I’d still call you an arse.” Kyle laughed, turning over onto his back so that he could get a good look at Dan.  
“I'm your arse, though.” Dan smirked, searching into Kyle's eyes before leaning in place a tender kiss on his lips.  
“No, you're not.” Kyle argued as they parted. “You’re much better looking than my arse.”  
“Funny!” Dan mockingly retorted, grinning.  
“You just handed to me.” Kyle told him, pushing himself up slightly so that he could kiss the idiot above him a few times. “What was I supposed to do?”


	2. you had my heart on your sleeve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dan's feeding issues start to seep through the cracks and he gets into some trouble with the Superior Bloodline vampire group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol this took way too long to update and boi is it crap, I'm sorry

The next morning came in slowly, the streaks of warming sunlight creeping in through the cracks on either side of the curtains and the sky colouring itself various shades of pink, with the vampire clutching at his feeder for dear life, while Kyle himself was stirred from his relaxed slumber by the soft vibrating of his phone against the wood of his bedside table. Given that he wasn't quite awake just yet, it took him a few tries to swipe at his phone and find that he was being called upon by an unknown number. He frowned at the phone and swiped at the screen to answer.   
“Hello?” He mumbled sleepily, trying and failing to free himself from Dan’s arms.   
“Kyle?” The voice sounded familiar, but who did it belong to? “Kyle Simmons?”  
“Yes?” He replied, still very much confused as to who the fuck would be calling him at this time in the morning and why. “Who's speaking?”  
“This is Janet, from the clinic?” As if that was supposed to make the penny drop for him.  
“What clinic?” That hadn't meant to come out of his mouth, and yet, it had fallen out because his brain had not quite booted up enough to rebuild the filter yet.  
“The Feeder clinic.” This Janet seemed royally peeved off that he hadn't remembered who she was, but, to be fair to him, Kyle sometimes had a mind like a sieve. “I just wanted to call and make an emergency appointment for you later this morning. I’ve heard that you have issues with your vampire and I want to make sure everything is alright with the both of you.”  
“Sorry, what?” Kyle blinked. “Can I ask how you heard that?”  
“A feeder who knows you came in for an appointment yesterday and told me that they were concerned about the amount of bite scars you had.” Janet explained, which only frustrated Kyle more.  
“Who?” Whoever it was, they were definitely in for it whenever he saw them next - he swore that he would hang up if she gave him the confidentiality spiel, because she had already sort of broken it anyway.  
“Charlie. He said that he was very concerned about the way your vampire feeds from you.” Janet continued. Charlie would be getting a very long, very angry text once this stupid conversation was over with.  
“Right. So you want to see me for an emergency appointment?” Kyle asked after taking a moment to inhale deeply and swallow his exasperation down.  
“Yes. Will you be able to come to the clinic for eight?” She replied, sounding rather chipper for quarter to seven in the morning.   
“Uhm, yeah, I s’pose so.” He nodded, despite knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to see him do so. “Would Dan have to come to?”  
“Oh that’s what his name was! I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.” She laughed, grating on Kyle's nerves some more. “Yes, you’ll have to bring him with you so we can discuss exactly what's going on in your vampire-feeder relationship.” Great, that was going to go down like a lead balloon.   
“Okay. Yeah, we’ll both be there for eight, then.” Kyle sighed, sleepily rubbing at his face.  
“Brilliant! See you then!” And with that overly enthusiastic goodbye, the phone was disconnected, meaning that Kyle was free to hang up and open his texts before furiously typing out his planned message to poor Charlie. 

When he was done, he angrily slammed his phone down onto the bedside table and let out a loud groan.  
“Y’alright, babe?” Mumbled a sleepy Dan from behind him.  
“Not really.” Spat Kyle.  
“Why? What's up?” Sniffed Dan, adjusting himself a little bit.  
“We have to go to an FC appointment at eight.” Kyle told him, taking the opportunity to sit up now that Dan was awake and slowly releasing his hold on the feeder.  
“What the fuck for?” Dan frowned, glancing over his lover’s face.  
“Because Charlie decided to tell Janet at the FC that he was concerned about the way you feed from me and the bite scars.” Kyle bitterly explained, locking eyes with the vampire for a moment or two. “And that means we have to go in for an emergency appointment to discuss our vampire-feeder relationship… Which, from what I understand, is FC Nurse speak for ‘we want to make sure it's not abuse or something’.”   
“Oh, for fuck's sake!” Sighed Dan, sitting up. “A lot of feeders get bite scars, it's normal. He's just a newbie who's not really aware of how shit works in this world yet. And, besides that, what's it to Charlie how I feed from you? I don't question how Ralph feeds from him, and I sure as fuck don't see him questioning the way Will feeds.”   
“That's because Ralph is your friend and even if you did think that something was a little, I don't know, weird between them as vamp-feeder, you wouldn't say shit about it anyway.” Kyle argued, snatching his phone off the table when it buzzed a few times. “As for Will; he isn’t questioning Will’s feeding technique because he almost always does it in private. Not like you, clamping your mouth ‘round my wrist at any given opportunity.”   
At that, Dan bit down at his lower lip and decided to stare at the wall for a bit instead.   
“I don't do that.” He mumbled, making an extremely weak counterpoint.  
“Yes you fucking do!” Kyle snapped, slamming his phone down a second time before getting out of bed and stamping over to a chair in the corner of the room that housed most of his clothes. “Your hunger is ridiculous, and it's because of the fact that you're a messy eater. Like I told you last night.” He continued, pulling a shirt over his head.  
“You used to think it was hot.” Dan quietly commented, pushing out his lower lip and shrugging some.  
“No, I didn't. I always thought it was disgusting.” Kyle frowned snatching a pair of jeans off the chair and struggling with them somewhat. “Get dressed, or we’ll be late.”  
“I meant when I used to lick it clean.” Dan elaborated on his still completely irrelevant point, pushing himself off the bed and shuffling over to his own mess of clothes on top of the dresser. “You’d moan dead loud, like whenever I suck you off.”  
“Shut up!” Kyle snapped, throwing a clean shirt at the vampire. “And put that on.”  
“But what about breakfast?” Whined Dan, having felt a sudden grumble within his gut.  
“For Christ’s sake!” Cried a now extremely exasperated Kyle, storming over to the other end of the room. “Here.” He added, offering his wrist to Dan, who immediately dropped the shirt in his hand, grabbed at his feeder’s arm then bit into it. Hard. “Ah! Fuck!” Kyle cursed, struggling a little against Dan’s strength. “Take it easy, for fuck's sake!” He cursed some more, forcing himself to relax as the vampire ate, a stray dribble of blood leaking from the new wound and dripping onto the floor. 

× × × × × ×

In the waiting room at the Feeder Clinic, Kyle was trying to distract himself from the annoyance of waiting with a two year old magazine while Dan was slouching in his seat, scrolling through his phone. Charlie had apologised for tattling on the pair’s relationship as vampire and feeder, but something in Kyle was still fuming about the whole thing. Oh, yeah, the fact that he had to sit here and wait for Janet to come through the double doors and call his name so that they could get it over with. He was still angry about the fact that he had been forced to attend a stupid appointment because Charlie hadn't learned yet that ‘mind your damn business’ was the number one rule when it came to other feeders and their vampires. Still, a part of Kyle couldn't really blame Charlie for being worried. Dan had started acting oddly, lately, and his entire attitude whilst feeding had started creeping up to the surface in short little bursts. The growling that Kyle had told him off about the night before had become more and more frequent and the animalistic way in which he fed had shown itself in public a few times. It made Kyle question everything, but he wasn't quite brave enough to bring it up with the vampire just yet and he worried that the nurse would try pulling at that thread.

“Kyle?” Dan sighed, putting his phone away and leaning his head against his feeder’s shoulder.  
“Mm?” Came Kyle's response as he turned a page of his magazine.  
“How much longer?” Petulant as Dan was being in that moment, Kyle was thinking the exact same thing. “You sure she said eight?”  
“I don't know and yes, I'm sure.” Kyle told him with a sigh as he tried to concentrate on some article that was giving tips on how to enrich a vampire's feed by eating a certain way.  
“It's nearly ten past, now, though.” Dan mumbled, looking at his watch for a moment or two. “She’s late.”  
“Maybe she's got another couple in there and they’ve got a lot of issues? She'll come and call us soon.” Kyle retorted, reading the same sentence for a second time. “Hopefully.”  
“Babe-” Dan began, before a sudden noise from the double doors had distracted them both. A nurse, wearing a dark green uniform with a thin red stripe against the lapels came through them and scanned the immediate area before settling her gaze on Dan and Kyle.   
“Kyle and Dan?” She asked with a bright smile, despite probably knowing full well who they were.  
“Yeah.” Kyle smiled right back, getting up and throwing the magazine down onto the chair before approaching her, with Dan cautiously following suit behind him.   
“Just this way.” Beamed Janet, gesturing down the hallway. 

In the allocated room that was, for some reason, painted sickening shade of mint green and had thirty year old cartoon character decal stickers placed in very odd sections of the walls, Kyle immediately sat down on one of the uncomfortable chairs while Dan sort of hovered for a moment or two before he was prompted to also take a seat beside his feeder. The nurse, meanwhile, sat by a desk and had already brought out all of the usual instruments that would constitute the check up’s plan of action.   
“So, before we start discussing what Charlie's been telling me about, I just want to give you a quick check, is that alright?” She twittered, making Dan blink a few times in order to stop himself from rolling his eyes and Kyle shrug his response. “Okay, great!” She beamed, grabbing at her stethoscope and gesturing for Kyle to move over to the examination bed. Before doing so, he shared a look with his lover then got up and wandered over to her. She went through the usual list, heart, blood pressure, blood sugar, weight then forced Kyle to take off his shirt so that she could look at his bite scars. She scrutinised each one for an uncomfortably long time then came to his most recent bites on his arms and tutted at the loosely wrapped and already stained bandages.  
“What?” Kyle frowned, snatching one of his arms away from her grip.  
“The bandages should be tighter.” Janet replied, going through the motions of removing the bandages and pausing only when she got halfway through unwrapping the bandage on his right arm to release a gasp. In that moment, Kyle immediately looked at Dan, who immediately fixated his gaze down to his shoes in a form of shame. Good. He deserved to feel that shame after those horrible bites. He deserved to see how bad they actually were. “Oh Jesus, how recent is this one?”  
“That one was from last night.” Kyle told her, watching as she pulled off the rest of the bandage and examined the wound. “The one on my left is from this morning.”  
“Charlie was right, these bite scars don't look even remotely near average.” Muttered Janet after unwrapping the bandage around Kyle's other arm before scurrying over to a drawer full of antiseptic liquid packs and fresh bandages.  
“Charlie doesn't know shit.” Dan blurted angrily.  
“Shut it.” Kyle ordered, frowning at him and allowing for Janet to clean and wrap up his wounds.  
“He doesn't, though!” Dan argued, gesturing violently with one of his hands. “He’s new to the whole idea of being a Feeder and he only did it because Ralph was desperate and sick of going to one of those hell hole stations! He has no fucking clue what it is to feed long term or how that's going affect him long term. Scars, bruising, that shit's normal!”  
“She literally just said that these newest scars weren't normal you absolute twat!” Kyle spat back, trying his best to keep still for Janet as she busied herself with redressing his wounds. “Or did you conveniently ignore that part, like you conveniently ignore my asking you to take it easy?”  
“For fuck's sake!” Dan shouted, kicking at a wastepaper basket near his feet, making it topple over.  
“Sorry to interrupt this domestic, but I'm the medical professional here, not you, and I am telling you that those wounds are not normal.” Janet said, glaring at Dan once she had finished redressing Kyle's wounds and returned to her desk. She decided to ignore the toppled wastepaper basket and focused her attention on the computer monitor instead. “How many times a day do you feed?”  
“Dunno,” shrugged Dan, “between four and six times a day?”  
“Try again.” Kyle chimed in, pulling his shirt back on as he returned to his seat beside the vampire.  
“Between six and eight times a day.” Dan tried lying a second time.  
“It's more like between eight and twelve times a day.” Kyle corrected for him, glancing over his lover before locking eyes with Janet.  
“Oh wow… Why is that?” Janet asked, furiously typing the information down.  
“Because he’s a messy eater and gets more blood down his front than he does down his throat.” The stoic reply came out so cold that even Janet didn’t dare reply for a moment or two.  
“So Dan isn't feeding properly, then?” Janet's interrogation continued.  
“Yes I do.” Dan snipped at her.  
“No, he doesn't.” Kyle told her. “It's because he associates the licking my wound clean part with sex and now has a very bad habit of accidentally dribbling his dinner instead of just consuming it like a normal vampire.”  
“Oh, I see.” Hummed Janet, taking a moment to look Dan over. “That explains his attitude and the paleness of his skin. Mood swings are common when a vampire isn't feeding properly.”  
“What attitude?” Dan frowned, glaring at her.  
“That one, babe.” Kyle sighed, turning to look at him.  
“Oh and the paleness of my skin means I’ve got jaundice or some shit, right?” Was Dan’s chosen sarcastic quip as he folded his arms against his chest.   
“No, it means that you're not getting the right amount of nutrition.” Janet corrected him, returning her attention to the computer. “And because of the lack of blood actually going into you, your primal side is coming out more often. Is there an issue that I should know about, otherwise?”  
“Not really.” Kyle replied, shaking his head. “It's literally just the feeding that's an issue. Everything else is fine.”  
“You’re an issue.” Mumbled a petulant Dan.  
“Remember when I promised you ice cream if you behaved at the clinic? You’re sure as shit not getting any now, mate.” Kyle snarked, using Dan’s current childishness to his advantage.  
“Fuck you.” Dan spat back. “Besides that, you didn't promise me shit.”  
“No, I know, dear, I was making a joke based on how much of a child you’re being.” Kyle told him, putting a hand on the vampire's shoulder.  
“I really suggest that you either get him to start feeding properly over the next couple of weeks and if Dan is still acting this way during our next appointment, then I will be referring him to a short feeding refresher at the VTC.” Janet stated, pulling a prescription pad closer to her person and scribbling something down. “In the meantime, I want you to use a healer salve on any of your bite wounds from now on. It helps soothe the pain and it doesn't leave a scar that looks as bad as those do.” She added, ripping the prescription note from the pad and handing it to Kyle.  
“No! I am not going back to that place!” Dan snapped, sitting bolt upright at the mere mention of the VTC. “You can't make me go back to that place!”  
“Just start feeding properly again and you won't have to, babe.” Kyle soothed, knowing exactly why Dan had responded to the very idea the way he had done. “Because otherwise they will make you and you know that.”   
“A bad experience?” Janet asked, tilting her head at Dan.  
“It's none of your fucking business!” Sniped the vampire, getting out of his seat and moving toward the door. “I assume we get to leave now?”  
“Yes, but please remember my advice.” Janet nodded, watching as Kyle got up and followed Dan to the door.  
“Thank you.” Kyle mouthed, opening the door for his vampire and following him out of the mint green room. 

× × × × × ×

At some point during the day, Kyle and Dan had found themselves separated; while Kyle was busy keeping the household afloat by running the usual errands, Dan had been locked away in the studio working. It was how they dealt with the ‘big’ arguments - separating from one another and cooling off by keeping themselves occupied with other things instead. Sometimes, yes, they were forced to talk about the issue at hand, but it was never resolved in the proper way. No, rough, hard makeup sex followed immediately by a few hours of cuddling and soft, sweet kissing was usually the concluding resolve for ahh argument once they’d both had a chance to cool off their surface anger. Which was why Dan was sipping at a flask full of the spare bagged blood from the fridge for his dinner at the studio instead of clamping his mouth down at a section of Kyle's body and Kyle was currently at home, shoving the newly bought groceries into their rightful homes. 

Out of habit, Dan glanced at his watch and frowned at the time. Perhaps he should go home? Perhaps he should go back to Kyle with his tail between his legs, profusely apologise, again, for his recent horrible behaviour and try to entice him with the half-expected notion of sex as usual?  
“I should go. Kyle's waiting for me.” He sighed, setting his flask down for a moment as he gathered his things together, barely even glancing up at Mark as he did so. The vampire didn’t even give his friend a chance to respond to the tired declaration, either, swiping his flask off the desk and giving him a weak sort of wave as he left, slamming the door shut behind him. Outside, he pulled his phone out, quickly typed out a warning message to Kyle that he was now on his way home then set off on his rather lonely journey to the nearest tube station. 

It was at the station that he noticed them. Well, of course, he had smelled them before he had seen them - they were also vampires after all - but when he managed to get a glimpse of the small band of angry looking people in a more open section of the main turnstile terminal, Dan couldn't help but stop in his tracks and watch them with some sort of curiosity.   
“They treat us like second class citizens! Like animals! Like monsters! They torture us in the VTC and force us to comply with their forty year old laws instead of making us their equals and treating us as such! The time is now, vampire brothers and sisters! We don't want equality anymore, we want superiority - because that is what we are, superior! We are stronger, faster, better than they are, so, I say, it's time to fight back and take control!” Shouted a tall, broad vampire, spitting his hateful bile out into the air with so much conviction that if Dan was of a weaker will, he would have fallen into the trap of following him in the same way as those who had gathered around him had done. These types of groups were always preaching their lies to the public and were often ignored by the general public. In fact, the only truth they had ever spat into the faces of human police officers was the VTC’s nasty habit of torturing vampires while they were under their “care”. Dan only knew this was truth because he had experienced the torture himself and would often get flashes of that particular part of his life. There were scars on his body that would haunt him forever and would, sometimes, make him want to avoid Kyle's touch altogether if he was in a particular sort of mood - and all of them were evidence of the abusive nature of the government workers within the VTC. Everything else, though? All these other words about being superior and wanting to take over the human race instead of trying the original goal of being equal to them? That rubbed Dan the wrong way; and, for some reason, forced his body to approach the tall, broad vampire with a look of pure contempt in his eyes. 

“Ah! Another brother has come to join our plight?” Asked the giant man, wearing a wide grin. “Do you want to be part of the army that wishes to take humanity’s control over this country, brother?”  
“I am not your brother.” Dan calmly replied, clicking flask shut and taking a moment to put it away in his backpack. “Nor am I interested in joining your idiotic, prejudiced group. You’re taking advantage of the torture that most of us have gone through as a way of manipulating the stupider vampire population into believing that they can never be seen as equals to humans, when, in reality, we are, pretty much equal… I came over to tell you to shut the fuck up, because you're frightening children and completely disregarding the feelings of werewolves on the subject of equality.” He continued, gesturing at the small, continuously moving crowd of people behind him. “Do you think werewolves have it easy? Hm? I have a friend that would tell you otherwise. He has to wear a shock collar all day, every day, despite the fact that he only changes once a month.”  
“Shut it, twiggy! If you have no interest in joining us, then fuck off little man.” Angrily retorted the tall man. “You can't tell us to shut up, anyway. Besides, we have a right to voice our demands!”  
“Yes, you do, absolutely, have the right to voice your opinions, fuckface, but here's the issue, you are not in a designated area or at a designated event for voicing your opinions and you are, like I just told you, you deaf gorilla, frightening children with your aggressive howling.” Dan clapped back, tilting his head at the vampire and glowering at him. With that, he suddenly felt a large spade of a hand grab at his shirt and pull him up off the ground before he was shoved, violently, backward.   
“Fuck off, stick man! We'll do what we want! Sympathisers like you will be the first to die once we've enslaved the humans.” The large man informed Dan as he stood up again and slowly returned to his original spot.   
“Go on, then.” Dan taunted, straightening himself up and daring for bigger vampire to do something, anything. To prove that he wasn't just a mouth that wouldn't stop running. “Kill me, now. Make me one less Sympathiser you have to get rid of.” He had no idea what he was doing, but his more logical brain was beginning to regret this stupid move. 

He would regret it some more once he felt the big man’s fist smack into his face so hard that it sent him reeling. 

× × × × × ×

“Dan! What the fuck happened to you?” Kyle's voice was swimming into his ears as a tired, beaten, battered and bruised Dan shuffled into the kitchen.  
“Those Superior Bloodline lot at the tube station happened to me.” Dan replied, sniffing hard and wincing at the pain that shot through his entire being at the action.  
“Oh for fuck's sake!” Sighed a now concerned Kyle before he scurried over to his lover and pulled him into a tight embrace. “I'm glad you’re home, now, and I'm glad you managed to come home safe.” He mumbled, taking great care as he placed a hand against Dan’s cheek before kissing his forehead. “I love you, but why did you do something so fucking stupid? Do you realise that they'll hunt you down, now?”  
“They were scaring kids, Kyle, and I was getting sick of the bullshit they were using to try and manipulate other vampires into joining their fucked up cult of a group.” Dan replied, trying and failing to pull away from his feeder.  
“Babe, I get that, but you’re supposed to ignore them.” Kyle sighed, pulling Dan into another tight hug. “Please don't ever scare me like that again.”  
“I'm sorry.” Blurted Dan, allowing himself to nuzzle into Kyle. “I won’t do it again, but I just couldn't fucking deal with it in that moment, I really couldn't. They were using the VTC torture as a fucking recruitment tactic.”  
“Hey, now, calm down… Let's get you cleaned up, I'll give you your dinner and we'll go to bed, okay?” Kyle attempted soothe his lover, offering him a weak sort of smile. “You can cuddle against me and, if you want to, we can talk about the VTC stuff, yeah?”  
“Yeah,” sighed the vampire, nodding some, “okay.” He honestly would have preferred to have skipped straight to the cuddling and stop there instead. He didn't want for Kyle to hear about the torture he'd been through in any detail and he certainly didn’t want to explain why it had riled him up so badly twice in one day. Dan just wanted for Kyle to hold him and that was all.


	3. you had a chance to breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dan explains how he really got his scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> f u c k

In the bedroom - the familiar, homely, safe haven that Dan would spend a lot of nights clinging to Kyle's frame as if his very existence kept the vampire’s feet on the ground of reality - the feeder was sat up against the headboard while his vampire was curled up against his side, with his head on Kyle's chest. From here, he could hear the calming thumping of Kyle's pulse and he had already settled himself into the exact same breathing pattern in a desperate bid to keep his mind from running into overdrive and overwhelming him with flashbacks of his eight month stint at the VTC in Buckinghamshire. He could feel fingers entangling themselves through his hair which, somehow, was able to calm him some more; threatening to hypnotise him and put him into a deep, hopefully dreamless, sleep. His eyes were closed, he’d had his fresh fill of blood, he was prepared for sleep, but the stirring something in his chest made it difficult to simply let go and just fall. That stirring something was the notion that he should probably start telling Kyle about exactly what had occurred in that nightmare hole, and, more importantly, what had happened to him in that nightmare hole. 

Dan released a sigh, but the emotion behind it was unclear. Was he sad? Was he frustrated? It was impossible to tell. At that same moment, he nuzzled further into Kyle's chest and chewed at the inside of his cheek. How the fuck was he supposed to start a tragic tale of torture and torment? How the fuck was he supposed to start telling his lover this tale? Jesus Christ.  
“Dan?” Kyle's voice interrupted his thoughts and blew away the puzzle he was trying to put together.  
“Mm, yeah?” Hummed Dan, still refusing to move away from the warmth of his human’s body.  
“I know you probably don't want to, but… Maybe it might be a good idea if I knew what they did to you?” Kyle was purposefully walking on eggshells, being very careful not to mention those three dangerous letters. He didn't know how Dan would react to the trigger word a third time today, and, frankly, he was afraid of not knowing what was going through his vampire's head.   
“The VTC, y’mean?” Frowned Dan, finding himself unconsciously squeezing at Kyle for a moment or two.  
“Yeah.” Nodded Kyle, still absentmindedly petting Dan. “Maybe if I knew at least some of what they did to you, then I can… I don't know? Help you come back down to reality when you lose your grip a little bit?”  
“You do that anyway, without knowing.” Dan said, a faint smile appearing on his face for all of a few seconds. “But if you're absolutely sure you want to hear about some of it-”  
“It’ll help me understand why it upsets you the way it does, so, please, just talk to me about it. Any part of it, whichever bits you're most comfortable telling me about right now.” Kyle insisted, locking eyes with the vampire as Dan raised his head somewhat.   
“It’d be easier to show you.” Dan sighed, sitting up and pulling his shirt off, leaving it abandoned to one side.  
“I've seen those before, babe.” Kyle reminded him, tilting his head at the biggest, most prominent scarring across Dan’s sides.  
“Yeah, but I never told you how I got them.” Dan said quietly, making a point of looking away from the feeder. He was ashamed of how he looked; of how the scars made him look, even though he knew that Kyle couldn't give a damn about that sort of thing. “You’ve always asked and I've always avoided the question.”  
Kyle frowned as he took a moment to think this over, then found himself studying the scarring he had seen so many times before with more scrutiny that he previously would have done.   
“How did you get those ones?” He asked after choosing his words very carefully.  
“Punishment.” Dan replied bluntly, though still rather quietly. “They're the scars left behind of all the times I was punished for whatever reason.”  
“Why would they punish you?” Kyle asked, not really understanding the correlation just yet.  
“So that I would end up behaving the way they wanted me to.” Dan replied, glaring at his own feet. “My punishment was usually because I was refusing to feed off the volunteer feeders. Sometimes it was because I wasn't paying attention during what they'd call a seminar or broke a rule but most times? Because they fucking well could.”  
“What did they use?” Kyle's eyes refused to move from one particular scar that stretched from the middle of Dan’s ribcage down to his lower back. “To punish you?”  
“One of two things. This big, long silver blade that they would boil to death first so it burnt you as well cut you open because they needed to sterilise it, or, if you were particularly unlucky, a witch’s holy flame spell. They’d send in an expert witch of theirs into the room and they would place a hand on you and burn into your skin with the spell. The longer they held their hand there, the worse it was.” Dan explained, twisting so that Kyle could see his left side a little more clearly. There, sitting on his waist, and being something the feeder before him definitely should have seen before, was the very clear outline of what used to be a scorched version of a handprint.   
“Why?” Was the only word that fell out of Kyle's mouth. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. That Dan, of all the vampires, in all of London, would ever need to be punished at all, let alone in such a brutal way.  
“Like I said, sometimes because I refused a feed, sometimes because I broke a rule and sometimes just because.” Dan told him, deciding to turn away from his lover again so that he could take a moment to ignore the sudden flashes of a witch smiling as he burnt the handprint into the vampire's side all that time ago.  
“That's just… Wrong.” Kyle mumbled, biting his lower lip as he tried to conclude whether or not it was best to approach Dan or leave him be.  
“No shit.” Dan nodded, raising eyebrows some. “The burn was always worse than the cuts. That witch they sent into my cell whenever they wanted to punish me was an actual psychopath. He would smile and laugh and say all these horrible things as he burned into my skin with his spell.”  
“I don't want to ask but, I kind of want to know… What sort of things?” Kyle asked tentatively, his expression clearly growing more concerned the more he heard about Dan’s holiday at Casa De VTC.  
“I’d be begging him, screaming at him to stop. Pleading with him to stop and that I’d do whatever they wanted so long as he stopped… And he would just look me dead in the eyes, smile and say something like ‘you need this punishment so that you understand and remember that you are nothing’.” Dan said, gesturing with one of his hands to drive the point home. “He would tell me that, now that I was a vampire, I would be nothing. An unimportant, worthless leech of a person that deserved nothing but punishment because of what I am.”  
“What the fuck?” Breathed Kyle.

“Essentially, I was being punished for a choice I didn't make.” Dan continued, apparently not able to register Kyle's reaction. All he could see was that evil fuck’s psychotic smiling face. All he could hear was the frighteningly calm words he had used. All he could feel was the burning against his flesh. The heat, the whites of the witch’s eyes, the quiet of his words… They were taunting him still and he had to fight with himself to make the flashes stop. He tensed, his eyes screwed shut as more flashes appeared; the blade cutting into him, his own shouting pleas for the punishment to end, his attempts at bargaining with the ones who had controlled his every action for eight months by telling them what they wanted to hear. Those nights where Dan was curled up on his cot, whimpering, shivering from the remnants of adrenaline and fear, wincing at his pain as he twisted his body in a failed attempt at rolling over, the unfathomable disbelief and inability to rationalise the entirety of it all, crying as he wondered about whether or not anyone in his family knew that this was happening to him, the eventual but fleeting moments of madness as he tried to come to terms with the idea that he deserved punishment; all of this occurred because of a vampire tearing into him and infecting him so long ago, now. He had been a vampire for five years but those initial eight months of ‘training’ had felt like centuries. If Dan’s mother hadn't visited him every Saturday during the Family Time hour, he doubted he would have known what day it was unless someone had been kind enough to tell him. If he hadn't had the notion of his mother making a visit once a week to look forward to, he would have lost his mind - he was absolutely sure of it. He wasn't allowed outside, save for Sunday afternoons for a grand total of half an hour; he wasn't allowed to move out of his cell unless he was told to; he wasn't allowed to do anything without some form of permission. He wasn't allowed to be himself, he wasn't allowed to be what he had become, he wasn't allowed to exist. He was just another number. Another plaything for the witches. Another monster that needed to be tamed by the government… He, as far as they were concerned, was not Daniel Campbell Smith; he was vampire #536983. Shit, the details that popped up as soon as his chip was scanned went as followed: his number, his date of birth, his date of turning, his date of VTC release, his birthplace, his living status, his occupation and then, finally, his name. The government didn't care for the people behind the number, attached to the chip, who was staring them in the face with wide, fearful eyes. They cared even less for werewolves. They weren't even graced with numbers; only forced to wear shock collars and to have their blood and a few strands of hair removed from them as a form of identification. Poor Woody. Supernatural lives were seen as issues, as problems, as a pestilence on the world as the humans had once held so dearly… And yet, Dan knew that it wasn't all humans who felt that way. He understood that many were demanding an equality, while the government were still enforcing their laws and denying every proposition held in the Houses of Parliament. 

It was the unexpected, gentle warmth of Kyle's hand against his shoulder that eventually brought him back into reality. He blinked a few times, frowned at his own thoughts then found himself locking eyes with and giving Kyle a sad sort of smile. Their relationship was more than a vampire and a feeder; there was passion, love, empathy, anger, banter, happiness, sadness, fleeting doubt, trust, loyalty, care, distance, closeness; there were slow Sunday mornings spent in bed, there were misremembered Friday nights, there were inside jokes, there were silent moments - much like this one - where all either of them needed was to hold each other’s hands, or to touch the other, there were loud moments in which they would drunkenly declare their love for one another without caring one but about who heard them, there were quiet moments in private where all they did was affectionately pet or kiss one another, there were rapid-fire moments of pure passion between the sheets as they fumbled around… They loved each other. Kyle didn't just feed Dan, or see him as a vampire that needed to be fed; Kyle saw Dan as his friend, his lover, his everything. Kyle saw Dan as human, despite the defining factors that had stripped him of his humanity five years before this moment. Kyle saw Dan as his soulmate. Dan saw Kyle as his anchor, his love, his everything. They were more than the label that people like that nurse at the FC had decided for them was the best fit. Their relationship was messy, it was fun, it was loving - and God only knew what the vampire would have done had Kyle not been there to save his wretched soul.   
“They can't hurt you anymore.” Kyle told him, pulling Dan into a close, tightly held embrace. “And I’ll do everything to make sure that you don't ever go back there, okay? I won't let them add more horrible things for your head to turn over in five years time.” He added, kissing the top of Dan’s head and allowing the vampire to nuzzle further into the closeness between them. “Just, please, let us work this feeding thing out, yeah? Then they won't make you go back. They can't make you go back.”  
“Okay.” Sighed Dan, unable to say anything else.  
“I love you.” Kyle mumbled, adding a few more firm kisses to the top of Dan’s head. “I love you and I won't let them do anything else to you. I won't let them take you.”  
“I love you, too.” Hummed the vampire, just about managing to pull away so that he could look deep into his feeder’s eyes. “I love you so much and I'm so sorry I keep fucking up. I don't want to hurt you, I don't mean-”  
“Dan?”  
“What?” Dan blinked, confused by the sudden interruption in his latest apology.  
“I know.” Kyle insisted, offering him something of an understanding smile before pulling the idiot, his idiot into a deep kiss.


	4. you wouldn't let your fear recede

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ralph and charlie drop by for a visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know??

“You’re lucky I let either of you in.” Dan grimaced, watching as his friend and his feeder passed him. “Did you not tell him about the mind your fucking business rule?” He continued, closing the door and storming over to the sofa. “Because if you did, you weren't very clear on the fucking matter at all.” He finished, unceremoniously dumping himself onto the couch, managing to lock eyes with Ralph as he glared at the other vampire.  
“I'm sorry, I didn't even know he’d done it until after the appointment.” Ralph sniped back, sounding rather defensive. “He told me nothing until after it happened, so don't go pointing fingers when I had nothing to do with it.”  
“Yeah,” Charlie agreed, nodding some, “it's got nothing to do with Ralph. It was all me. My idea, my concern… I wanted to make sure that you and Kyle were, y’know, okay.” A sigh escaped the feeder as he ran a hand through his hair. He was clearly apologetic about the whole ordeal. He clearly held a lot of regret for ever opening his damn mouth instead of obeying the unofficial rule of minding his business. That still didn't make Dan sympathise with him, though. No, he was still angry about the fact that Charlie had buried his nose into a relationship that wasn't his own and aired dirty laundry that wasn't his to air in the first place.  
“Well, we’re fine, thank you.” Dan replied bitterly, moving his glare onto Charlie who became visibly uncomfortable when he felt those blue eyes stab into his soul. He hadn't meant to anger or upset anyone… He was only trying to help, to show his concern but, obviously, that had backfired spectacularly. “How are you doing? You and Ralph? How's his feeding habits? Should I give Janet a call?” The snippy sarcasm cut Charlie to the bone, and, in noting that his friend was making his feeder uncomfortable, Ralph decided to move so that he stood between the two.  
“He apologised. Let it go.” Ralph warned, glaring right back at Dan, who huffed, clenched his jaw then nodded in response.  
“Fine.” The word fell out of Dan, as if he didn’t really mean it. “If it happens again, though, I won't be happy.”  
“It won't happen again, I swear.” Charlie promised, shaking his head as he pulled up a hand to show that he meant it.  
“Just… Just mind your business from now on, okay?” Sighed Dan, shifting in his seat so that he was more comfortable.  
“Okay.” Charlie agreed, offering the vampire a weak sort of smile.  
“Have you calmed down, now?” Ralph's voice gave out a sense of authority, to which Dan seemed to respond. It was odd, seeing how the two vampires interacted, given what Charlie knew about their relationship. Their long time friendship despite having previously fumbled around together. The way Ralph seemed to be able to control Dan - to an extent. It was like watching an alpha enact his dominance over an omega and it was… Weird. Did all vampires behave this way? Or was it just how Dan and Ralph were?  
“Just sit down before I change my mind and kick the two of you out.” Dan mumbled, shrugging some. “Kyle's just in the shower, he'll be out in a bit. If you want something, you know where everything is.” He added, lazily gesturing toward the kitchen.   
“Charlie, would you mind getting a coffee?” Ralph asked, turning to his feeder. “I need a second alone with Dan.” At this, Dan frowned, angrily, knowing full well that this second would mean being reprimanded by the only person who seemed to know how to keep him almost totally in check.  
“Sure!” Grinned Charlie before disappearing into the kitchen, leaving the vampires alone with their surly silence and the mumbling television. 

“Turn that off a minute.” Ralph ordered, jerking his head at the TV before taking a seat beside Dan.  
“I'm watching this.” Dan argued, refusing to move.  
“Turn it off.” Ralph ordered a second time. This time, Dan reluctantly obeyed and snatched the remote off the arm of the couch and turned the television off, dousing the room in complete silence. “Thank you.”  
“What do you want to talk about, then?” Dan was sarcastic in his tone, throwing the remote aside with little care as to where it actually landed.  
“I need you to fix your fucking attitude for a start.” Ralph sniped, sternly, glaring at the other vampire. “Then you can tell me what happened to your face and what you and Kyle are planning to do about your feeding issues.”  
“First of all, fuck off.” Dan clapped back. “Second, I got into a disagreement with a member of the Bloodline cult, and, third, it's none of your fucking business what me and Kyle plan to do.”  
“Groups like Bloodline are exactly why humans don't want us to have an equal stance.” Sighed Ralph, slouching back into his seat. “And getting into a fight with one of their members was a stupid move, you absolute twat.”  
“You think I don't know that?” Dan argued. “But who else was going to tell them to fuck off? They were howling so loud that they were frightening kids at the tube station.”  
“Listen to me, don't ever approach them again, no matter what the situation is, do you hear me?” Ralph warned. “You’ll get yourself fucking killed.”  
“I know, which is why I have to be chaperoned from now on, apparently.” Dan sighed, tiredly rubbing a hand against his face and wincing a little as he caught one of his bruises. “Will has to come and get me if Kyle isn't coming somewhere with me, to make sure I don't get jumped by those madheads.”  
“Good.” Replied Ralph with a firm nod. “Please tell me what you and Kyle are going to do about your feeding. I need to know, I'm trying to help you out, here.”  
“... Okay.” Dan finally relented, having managed to fight with the urge to kick out at his friend some more. “Kyle has me on a strict schedule now. I eat either an hour before or an hour after he does and he makes sure I bite down properly so that I don't end up dribbling. He also times the feed so I get the proper amount into me.”  
“Alright, how long does he time the feed for?” Ralph asked, having arranged the information into a handy little mental list for his own reference at some point later.  
“Breakfast he times for five to ten minutes; lunch, if I don't have one of the bags from the fridge, he times for twenty minutes and dinner he times for fifteen minutes.” Dan told him, using his fingers to count out each meal. “We’ve talked about giving me two snack feeds that last for five minutes each, too.”  
“That sounds like a good system.” Ralph nodded. “What about the where?”  
“Forearm and inner thigh only and if I have to feed from his thigh, then we do it in private.” Continued the other vampire, making an expression that Ralph couldn't really place. It wasn't one he had ever seen on Dan before to be able to recognise. “Usually at home.”  
“Okay, so you’ve figured it all out, then?” Ralph asked, looking for an extra bit of confirmation just to make sure it was all correct in his head.  
“Yeah.” Nodded Dan. “Our next appointment at the FC is in two weeks.”  
“Alright. Do you want me and Charlie to come with you two?” The offer of moral support was a sincere one. Whether or not Dan would take it that way was a completely different story, however.  
“I’ll be honest, mate, I think it's best that it was just me and Kyle.” Dan sighed. “Only because it's our issue and I don't want you two to have to help clean up our - my mess.” The correction was caught just in time and the frown that appeared on the other vampire’s face told Ralph that Dan was probably berating himself for his recent behaviours. In that moment, he felt bad. He knew about Dan’s bad habit of replaying and picking apart all of his past mistakes and how he would always end up berating and belittling himself for them.   
“Fair enough.” Said Ralph, quietly, unsure of what else he could say. There wasn't anything constructive to add to that and he sure as fuck wasn't about to worsen the white noise that was threatening to take over his friend's mind by trying to stretch the topic.   
“I know that Charlie and, well, you, were only trying to help. I know that you're both just concerned about us, but I'm telling you that we're okay.” Dan insisted, as if he was arguing with himself out loud. “Me and Kyle, we can work this shit out. I love him and I want to make it work with him. I want that glorified happy ending with him and I'll do anything for that…” He paused, chewed thoughtfully for a moment or two at the corner of his lower lip. “I’d do anything for him.”  
“I know.” Ralph offered him a softened smile. “And he would do anything to keep you from getting thrown back into the lion's den. He wants you to be safe, he wants you to be happy… That’s what I want, too. For the two of you to be, y’know, happy. God knows you both deserve that much, at least.”  
“Happiness?” Dan seemed confused by the very notion of him being granted the one thing he subconsciously craved.  
“Yeah.” Nodded Ralph. “You deserve to be happy.” He had told Dan this many times before but, as usual, it needed to be reiterated and confirmed multiple times before his friend would even consider the idea in a positive light. “After everything you two have been through? Being happy should be a God-given right.”  
“For Kyle, maybe.” Dan mumbled, accidentally releasing a bitter sort of laugh. “I don't deserve shit.”  
“That's the fucking witch talking, again.” Ralph snapped defiantly, raising a finger to warn Dan that he was edging towards dangerous territory. “I know exactly what he did to your head. He did the same to me, remember? And to Will. You need to ignore his voice. Make yourself louder. Scream at him, if you have to, but I'm telling you he is wrong. Always has been, always will be.” There was an anger in Ralph's tone that sparked a much more submissive part of Dan’s brain and forced him to withdraw into himself, bringing one of his knees to his chest. He knew not to argue with that tone, but it was taking every ounce of his being just to hold his damn tongue on the matter. He wanted to argue in favour of the psychopathic witch’s words, but he also wanted to agree with Ralph and defy those echoes that were bounding around his skull like a ricocheting bullet. Maybe it was pessimism that made him want to argue? Maybe it was the conditioning? He would never be sure. Not without proper analysis of his mind’s map, anyway. Besides that, Dan knew that if they continued arguing this point that it would end with either Ralph storming out or Dan disappearing into the bedroom and refusing to leave. It was how their arguments concluded when they had been together and it was the last remnant of that particular moment in their intertwined lives.   
“I'm glad you and Charlie ended up together, y’know.” Dan mumbled once he’d had enough of the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them. “He makes you happier, I think.”  
“Funny, that's how I feel about you and Kyle.” Ralph laughed, glancing over the other vampire. “We didn't really work as anything more than drunken fuck buddies or friends, did we? Really?” He added quietly, frowning somewhat at the thought.  
“Not really.” Dan shook his head, pushing out his lower lip. As much as they both would have loved to explore what could have been, they were both happier now. They were happier being friends; better off that way. It hurt less that way. “Not that it stops you from trying to dominate me.” Thankfully, the joke had landed the way he had expected it to because Ralph let out a loud, amused snort.  
“That's because of the whole natural hierarchy thing with vampires.” Ralph argued, making a face. “For some reason, because you were my bitch for so long, we’re still acting as if we're in those roles in every aspect but sex.”  
“You still try to dominate me because of nature?” Dan laughed.  
“Yeah, and I can, to an extent, keep you in check because of that.” Ralph nodded, completely serious. “I'm your alpha, essentially, so you’re more likely to do as I say. Not that you actually will, there’s just a higher chance of you listening to me.”  
“Mate, I was joking.” Dan sniggered. “There was no need for the David Attenborough speech.”

“Oh, hey Charlie!” Kyle grinned, coming into the kitchen to find one of the two expected guests by the kettle, making three cups of coffee.  
“Heya, Kyle.” Charlie grinned right back, taking a split second to look up at the other feeder as he poured the water into each cup. “I didn't know how long you were going to be in the shower so I didn't make you one, sorry…” He added, rather apologetically as he set the kettle down on to the counter. “I can make you one, if you wanted?”  
“No, you're okay, mate.” Kyle replied, shaking his head some. “I’ll just get some apple juice out of the fridge instead. Thank you, though.”  
“Okay, if you're sure?” Charlie asked, searching Kyle's face. The other feeder nodded, went into the fridge, pulled out the juice carton and closed the door.   
“I'm sure.” He said with a grin, unscrewing the cap and taking a good swig from the carton. “So, how are you doin’?”  
“I'm alright… Ralph and I have a new system.” Charlie informed him, deciding to leave the vampires’ coffees for a moment, just in case he would end up interrupting something important, and picking up his own. He took a cautious sip then frowned some as he put his thoughts together.  
“A new… Feeding system?” Kyle encouraged, tilting his head at him.  
“Kind of?” Charlie shrugged.  
“Ah, okay, you’ve figured out how to combine his feed with sex, haven't you?” Kyle smirked, taking another swig from the juice carton.  
“I mean, yeah.” Nodded Charlie, letting out a quiet laugh. “But he keeps-”  
“Taking over? Dominating you?” Kyle suggested alternatives for the end of the sentence, to which Charlie simply nodded. “That's normal. A lot of vampires are like that. Dan is. He wasn't when he was with Ralph, but he is now. Which is fine by me, I guess.” He assured the other feeder, shrugging some. “It's because, in their primal brain, vampires are pinning or dominating their prey.”  
“Was Dan human when he was with Ralph?” Charlie seemed curious about the relationship.  
“They were on and off for years, before either of them got bit.” Kyle nodded. “He was a little bitch for Ralph then, if all the accounts are correct.” He added with a laugh. “Then Dan got with me a few years ago and now I'm the bitch.”  
“Oh, so Dan’s always been a little shit, then?” Charlie laughed, taking another sip from his coffee.   
“Yeah.” An unholy snorting noise came from Kyle at that before he fell into a bout of laughter. “Pretty much.”

“Can I ask you something?” Charlie mumbled after the brief pause had gotten too much for him. “About being a feeder?”  
“‘Course.” Shrugged Kyle, putting his juice carton down onto the counter. “What's bothering you?”  
“I just want to know if eventually… I don't even know how to phrase the question. Fuck.” Sighed Charlie, grimacing at his own thoughts. Why wasn't he able to ask the question properly?  
“Is it to do with getting used to an aspect of being a feeder?” Kyle offered, hoping that his hunch was relatively close to the mark.  
“Not exactly.” Charlie shook his head. “More to do with a rumour I heard and I want to know if it’s true or not.”  
“If you’re talking about that imprinting shit, that's bullshit, mate.” Kyle told him a little too confidently.  
“No, not that one.” Charlie shook his head again, a little more feverishly this time. “The one about--”  
“Vampire venom making you ill?” Kyle asked once the penny had finally dropped.  
“Yeah.” Charlie nodded.  
“That's bullshit too.” Kyle said adamantly, shaking his head. “Did you not go to the seminar before you registered as Ralph's feeder?”  
“I did, but they never really addressed things like that.” Charlie shrugged. “One guy asked about it but the nurse leading the seminar just avoided the question.”  
“Hm, normally they’d straight up tell you that it's just an old wives’ tale.” Frowned Kyle, beginning to chew thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek. “Or they’d go into what actually happens to your body during a feed, or what happens to you long term.”  
“They did, but it wasn't totally clear.” Charlie confessed, setting his cup down.  
“Think of it as being similar to type one diabetes.” Kyle said, throwing one of his hands out. “Too much blood taken from you and given to the vampire, it's kind of like hyperglycemia for them but hypoglycemia for us. Too little, the opposite thing happens.” He explained, raising and lowering his hand as he made his point, with Charlie's eyes curiously following the movements. “They can get sick from too little blood, properly sick, while we're in danger of getting sick, or worse, from too much blood being taken. It's all about balance, really, and I'm pretty sure that you and Ralph have that figured out by now, right?”  
“I mean, yeah.” Nodded Charlie, deciding then that he would run a hand through his hair. “So, if I’ve got this right, what you're saying is that an overbalance of something is what can make us sick and not the venom?”  
“Yep, exactly that.” Kyle nodded, dropping his hand. “Dan wasn't getting enough blood into his system, so his body started going into primal vampire mode because, as far as his primal brain was concerned, he was starving.”  
“Right,” Charlie agreed, “while, because of us having the balance just about right, Ralph can sort of control his primal side.”  
“Pretty much.” Kyle sniffed, snatching the juice carton off the counter and taking a swig out of it. “If we put it into terms of the diabetes comparison thing I did, Dan was, essentially, suffering with dangerously low blood sugar while Ralph's blood sugar was absolutely fine.”   
“That actually makes a lot more sense.” Charlie mumbled. “Thank you… It’s been bothering me for weeks.” He added with a quiet laugh.  
“I know, the NHS isn't exactly the most clear when they're trying to explain something, are they?” Kyle laughed, shaking his head some. “It’s okay, man… You know you can always just ask me if you're not really sure about something to do with this whole ordeal.” He added, gesturing in lazily-fashioned circles with the carton in his hand. “I have been a feeder for like four and a half years, after all…” It felt like it had been longer, sometimes, when he found himself dwelling on the thought, but would then silently marvel at the fact that four and a half years had gone by so quickly. He had changed a lot, that was certain. Dan had changed, too. Fuck it, everyone had… But what was baffling was the idea that they had all changed so much in such a short amount of time.   
“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.” Beamed Charlie, taking hold of the two other mugs of coffee he had left on the side for what was probably far too long. “I’ll just go and take these through to the other two…”  
“I’ll bring your coffee,” Kyle beamed right back, picking up Charlie's half-empty cup and following his fellow feeder into the living room.


	5. so i moved on

Meanwhile, at a train station, feeling rather anxious about being around so many people who had a bad habit of staring at the thing around his neck, Woody had found himself in London. He was supposed to be meeting Will, but he wasn't entirely sure where they were supposed to meet. Was it by his platform? Was it outside by the taxi rank? Was it by the Underground escalators?  
“Bollocks.” He muttered, digging through his pockets for his phone. After a few moments of fiddling with it, he managed to dial Will’s number and put the phone to his ear.  
“Hello?” Will’s voice sounded a little quiet against whatever background noise on his end of the line, but it was clear enough that the werewolf was able to pick it up.   
“Will, I'm here, mate… Where did we say we were supposed to meet, again?” Woody frowned, taking a moment to scan his immediate surroundings in case he hadn't spotted the vampire. Then again, his scent would have given him away. An odd mixture of vampire, mints and something musky that Woody would always put down to being similar to the smell of a bonfire.   
“Where are you now?” Will answered the question with a question, making Woody fight with a loud groan that tried escaping him.   
“By The Tie Rack stand thing.” Replied the werewolf, making a point of smiling at a woman in some sort of business attire as she stared at his collar.  
“I’m beside the Paperchase stand.” Will told him. “Stay where you are, I'll come and find you.”  
“Okay.” Sighed Woody, hanging up the phone and shoving it back into his pocket. He stood there, looking rather awkward, for a little bit, trying his best to ignore the glares he was receiving from more passers by. If vampires had anything for werewolves to be envious of, it was the fact that they had the ability to blend in and not be judged unless they happened to feed in public for whatever reason. Werewolves, meanwhile were degraded and forced into a collar that wasn't only uncomfortable, but had the potential to harm them should someone of authority decide that they were not cooperating. They were treated worse than vampires, but then again, Woody was of the opinion that it was a case of apples and oranges. Vampires weren't treated as well as some liked to think and most, judging from the information both Will and Dan had given him, were tortured into obedience. At least werewolves weren't tortured. At least they were given somewhere safe to change once a month. At least they weren't mentally scarred by those who were meant to be trusted to look after them. Still, it didn't stop him from feeling uncomfortable by the number of eyes that were fixated on his shock collar. 

“Woody?” Will’s voice came through the white noise and startled the werewolf into action. There he was, wearing that God awful leather jacket and a pair of shades. Did he think that he was in some kind of gang?  
“Christ, Will, you look like a twat.” Woody muttered as the vampire approached him. “Sunglasses indoors? Mate, we’ve talked about this.”  
“We have and I believe we came to the conclusion that I don't give a fuck.” Will said, smiling as sweetly as he had spoken, causing Woody to let out a loud laugh.  
“Fair enough.” He sniggered, pushing back some of his hair. “You still look like a twat, though.”  
“And I still don't give a fuck.” Will smirked, making a point of pushing the sunglasses up the bridge of his nose.   
“Right, anyway,” Woody had decided then that it was time for a change of topic, “so what exactly is the plan?”  
“I'm not really sure. Ralph said that Dan and Kyle have now got a schedule set up and that they're now working on some things.” Shrugged Will. “As to whether or not the initial plan is going ahead, I didn't ask and Ralph didn't say anything.”  
“Please tell me I didn't just waste a train journey.” Woody sighed, trying his best, and failing, not to look too exasperated by the whole ordeal.  
“Well, no, you didn't.” Will told him, shaking his head some. “We still need to discuss things with Dan, anyway, and Ralph was going over with Charlie to check up on him and Kyle regardless.”  
“So we’re still going over to Dan and Kyle’s, then?” Woody frowned, somewhat confused by the itinerary.  
“Yes,” Will nodded, “to discuss what we can do to help keep them on the schedule they’ve set up. Because Lord knows that Kyle's eventually going to give up and give into Dan when he eventually starts acting up again.”  
“Okay, so it's like trying to keep him clean?” Woody was already trying to rationalise the information in the only way that made any sort of sense to him.  
“Essentially,” confirmed Will, “we keep him on the schedule to stop him from acting up and going back to his recent attitude problem… And, that way, we help Kyle as well.”  
“Stopping him from letting Dan slip, y’mean?” Woody asked, following Will out onto the street and watching as the vampire hailed a cab.  
“Exactly.” Will told him, opening the back door and allowing for the werewolf to jump into the car first. “That way nothing can guarantee that Dan will need to spend another few weeks in that hell hole.”  
“The VTC?” To this, Will responded with a harsh sigh and a nod.  
“I can guarantee you that the VTC is not the best place for a holiday.” He added, frighteningly calm in his tone as he turned to look out of the window once he had explained to the driver where it was they were heading.  
“So I’ve heard.” Woody mumbled. “Sometimes I think we have it better, y’know. At least we don't get tortured.”  
“You do, just in a different way.” Will argued, quietly. “Those collars are a form of torture. The way you're treated is a form of torture. The way you get forced into a cage once a month just so you can change ‘safely’ is a form torture.”  
“I s’pose.” Sighed Woody, trying hard not to think about it too much. “But we don't get psychologically broken in what’s supposed be a place to teach us about what we are and how we're supposed to adjust to that new life.”  
“Torture comes in many forms.” Will told him, ending the conversation right there.

× × × × × × ×

“For God's sake, what is this? An intervention?” Snipped an exasperated Dan, flopping back into his seat. If he had been the type to do so, that would have been the moment that he would have put a cigarette between his teeth and sparked up - just for dramatic effect. He’d already been accosted by Ralph quietly telling him off, without adding Woody and Will into the picture as well. He had already said that he and Kyle were just fine, thank you very much, especially now that they had figured something out, and he didn't really feel like explaining it all a second time.   
“Sort of.” Woody nodded, deciding to take up the armchair by the window.  
“What Woody means is that we are trying to help both you and Kyle stay on track so that we can make sure that you don't end up in the VTC again.” Will elaborated, obviously trying his best not to roll his eyes as he rested himself on the arm of the couch.   
“I've just told Ralph the plan!” Dan argued, gesturing wildly at the other vampire.  
“Yeah, but we need work as a team to help you and Kyle stick to that plan.” Ralph explained, much to the lasting exasperation of Dan.  
“Babe,” Kyle chimed in, a tone of warning somewhere in his voice, “it's a good idea to let them help us. You might slip and I might slip by letting you slip more than once-”  
“Or at all.” Will finished for him.  
“Or at all.” Kyle agreed with a reluctant sort of nod.  
“Besides that, we need to figure out a plan where we can keep you from being mugged by those Bloodline lot again.” Woody added in for good measure.  
“I wasn't mugged. I encouraged the fight.” Dan corrected him.  
“Still, they're going to try and get you back at some point.” Ralph told Dan.  
“For fuck's sake!” Dan groaned, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.  
“To be fair, mate, you can't fight your way out of a paper bag.” Woody commented quietly, locking eyes with the vampire opposite him.  
“We just want to help.” Charlie eventually chirped, offering his best attempt at a reassuring smile given the hostility that was beginning to rise within the room like damp in an old building.  
“So we need to let them help us.” Kyle nodded, giving Dan his puppy eyes. Jesus Christ the whole ordeal was beginning to grate on the vampire's nerves now, but, after taking a breath and thinking it over for a little while, Dan made a face then nodded.  
“Okay, alright, fine.” He sighed. “What's the plan, then?”

“First, we go ahead with that chaperone idea.” Ralph said, apparently taking the reins of leadership. “Kyle stays with you as much as possible. Otherwise, either Will, Woody, Charlie, Mark or I will stay with you. That way they can't take advantage of you being vulnerable.”  
“Right.” Dan nodded, clenching his jaw. “And when they got bored of that?”  
“We distract them.” Ralph said.  
“How the fuck are we meant to do that?” Woody frowned, making Dan throw out a hand in his direction to show his solidarity in that thought.   
“They're usually big and stupid enough to fall for the smallest of things.” Ralph began, glancing between the two of them. “All we have to tell them is that Will, Dan and I are members of the VA. They don't fuck with VA members.”  
“And when they find out that we aren't?” Will asked, tilting his head at Ralph.  
“That's the beauty, because they don't fuck with the VA, they won't bother to look it up.” Ralph grinned. “Besides that, I have this on my wrist that looks fairly similar to the VA’s symbol.” He added, pulling up a sleeve so that everyone in the room could see what he meant. “Enough, at a glance, for them to just believe it.”  
“Sorry, I'm a bit lost…” Mumbled Charlie. “What is the VA?”  
“Vampire's Alliance.” Ralph told him, giving him a gentle smile. “It's the group that's much more capable of actually getting us any sort of equality by working with the government instead of trying to take it over completely like Superior Bloodline.”  
“Oh, I see!” Charlie nodded, cracking a reluctant sort of smile. He still had some things to learn about the vampire world, it seemed.  
"Neither me nor Will have that, though." Dan argued, tilting his head at Ralph. "How do you think are they going to react to that?"  
"They don't need to see it, you idiot." Ralph snipped. "All they need is to hear those letters; that's it."  
"Surely the more senior ranks in Superior Bloodline will know?" Frowned Will.  
"They aren't likely to turn up on the street or recognise Dan, though, are they?" Ralph argued.   
"Alright, fine." Dan sighed, throwing his hands up in the air. "We'll go with your plan. If it doesn't work then-"  
"Then I'm sure we'll figure something else out." Kyle piped up, sounding rather stern. "For now, that plan sounds like it's going to work, so we'll run with it as far as it'll take us."  
"So... We have the plans worked out." Sighed Will, leaning back in his seat. "Dan and Kyle have a fixed schedule - that we're all going to keep them on - and we have something in place to keep the Bloodline thugs at bay."

× × × × × × ×

After their visitors had left and the house was left doused in silence, the vampire and his feeder found themselves sat together on the sofa, staring at the television instead of actually watching whatever documentary this was on the screen. Dan had decided to rest his head on Kyle's shoulder, while the feeder had an arm loosely snaked around his vampire's shoulders. They were comfortable in their silence, but there was still a tension in the air that had been left behind by their friends. It hung around like a bad smell, but neither Kyle nor Dan dared try to ease the tension. Neither one dared say anything; they simply sat there and glared at the television for the longest time. Until a moment came where the documentary's credits were rolling up the screen and the vampire shifted around.  
"You alright, there, babe?" Mumbled his feeder, pulling away somewhat so that he could glance over Dan's frame with some ease.  
"Mm, yeah." Hummed Dan, nodding some as he sat up before rubbing a hand against the side of his face. "I was just thinking."  
"Thinking 'bout what?" Blinked Kyle, stretching a little.  
"How I, apparently, need to be babied by everybody." Dan wasn't as snippy as Kyle had expected him to be as he let that sentence go, but he did sound... Sad. He sounded disappointed, but what would give him that feeling? Perhaps he felt disappointed in himself?  
"You're not being babied." Kyle sighed, a little exasperation creeping up on him. "That Bloodline cult is dangerous as it is, without thinking about their stone-headed street thugs. You were stupid enough to start aggrevating that one at the tube station, and, because of that, it's probably likely that - if you're on your own - they'll gather some more goons, jump you in some dark alleyway and beat seven shades of shit out of you just because you aggrevated that one guy. We're worried that they're going to get you into trouble with the Vampire Department of Justice." He paused a moment to make Dan lock eyes with him. "We're worried about you getting hurt again. I'm worried about you getting hurt again. Or shit, worse, that you might get done because of something Bloodline did to you because the cops can sometimes be as fucking twisted as people make them out to be. I don't want you to get hurt, I want you to be safe. I don't want you to end up in that Hell hole again, either, I want you to stay here with me." He insisted, before planting a firm kiss against his vampire's head. "I love you too much to lose you. That's why I'm trying to make our vamp-feeder relationship work as well as our regular one. Or are you that much of a blind fucking idiot that you can't see that?"

In response to this, Dan slowly pulled back then spent some time searching Kyle's face. This was serious now. The fact that the conversation was even remotely serious was uncharted territory, given their usual resolve... And given Dan's usual habit of avoidance when such things seemed to arise. He chewed at the inside of his cheek, sighed then pushed a gentle kiss onto Kyle's lips. There was a brief moment where they both toyed with the idea of deepening the kiss but the vampire had decided to pull back before either of them could act on it.  
"I love you, too." He mumbled. "So much... And I don't want to lose you, either."  
"Then stop being a dickhead and let me, let the rest of us help you get out of the hole you've put yourself in, for the love of fuck." Kyle replied, shaking his head some.  
"Alright." Dan nodded, allowing his hand to find one of Kyle's. "But I'm mostly doing it for you."  
"Fine by me." Kyle allowed himself a smile before deciding to pull Dan into a slow, deep kiss. 

At least now Dan was showing that he was willing to try... And, for Kyle, that was enough.


	6. & it's too late to change your mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> charlie and ralph discuss some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's kind of short, but I guess it was supposed to be?

Despite his good intentions, Charlie’s attempt to help his friends through the official measures had backfired; and spectacularly so. He hadn't meant for Dan to be threatened with a stay at the VTC (which, from what he had been told wasn’t as state of the art as the glossy Ministry Of Health approved brochure made it out to be), neither had he intended for all of this tension it had caused nor the awful amount of chatting and planning that had been spawned from it between everyone else behind Dan and Kyle's backs, either. Charlie had simply wanted to help. He was worried, and rightly so, and he was merely trying to help. Apparently, this Good Samaritan was not going to be rewarded but scolded. Gently scolded. Ralph didn't scold, he gently explained vampire things and how there were as many complicated unwritten rules as there were officially scripted rules behind being a vampire's feeder. A part of him felt frustrated because it often sounded as if he was being patronised by his vampire, but Charlie would always manage to shake it off and silence that quieter part of his mind whenever he found himself happily snuggled up against Ralph. Much like now, in their bed back at their flat, listening to an acoustic record and calmly, quietly enjoying each other’s company. 

“I'm sorry.” He frowned at the way the words had dropped out of his mouth. Why was he apologising, again? Why did he feel the need to let the words fall out of him, again? Would there ever be a moment where he would forget to apologise and end up apologising for not apologising? Christ.  
“What for?” Mumbled Ralph, absentmindedly running a hand through his feeder’s hair.   
“The whole Kyle and Dan thing.” Charlie replied, looking up at the vampire with wide eyes. He wasn't frightened of Ralph, he doubted he could ever be frightened of Ralph - even given the other musician's status as a supernatural creature, he was frightened of receiving more backlash in retaliation to his stupid mistake. “I'm sorry. I was just trying to help, I was worried and they told us at the seminar if we saw anything that didn’t seem, y’know, uhm, right, then we were supposed to report it-”  
“Charlie?” Ralph's voice went unheard.   
“- so that's what I did. I thought I was doing the right thing-” Charlie continued babbling.   
“Charlie.” This time Ralph's voice was heard, forcing the feeder to stop talking immediately and hold eye contact with the vampire. “It's alright, honestly. I know that you meant well, they know that you meant well, and you know now just to keep things to yourself.”  
“Yeah, but, Dan especially was so… Riled up by the whole thing, I feel really bad about the whole ordeal.” Charlie tried to argue tightening his grip on the vampire's shirt.  
“That was just the lack of blood talking.” Ralph calmly assured him. “He’ll get over it.”  
“That doesn't stop me from feeling bad, though, does it?” Charlie persisted.  
“Hey, now,” Ralph soothed, pausing his action of stroking through his feeder’s hair in favour of gently pulling his head up, “it's done now, isn't it? And we're helping them clean up the mess, so I'm sure it's all going to work out, eventually.”  
“Ralph-”  
“Charlie, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and it's really not doing anyone, least of all you, any good sitting around, kicking yourself and wishing you’d done things differently, is it?” At this, Charlie sighed then slowly shook his head in response. Ralph was right; there was no use crying over spilt milk. The damage had been done and there was already a plan of action to help the other pair fix things, so why bother agonising over it? There was no need.  
“I suppose not, no.” He mumbled, his face twitching a little as he tried out a smile and made a point of avoiding eye contact with his vampire. “But-”  
“But nothing.” Ralph said, rather sternly - a tonal indicator that the argument was now over whether the feeder liked it or not. “It’s in the past, all we can do carry on with the plan.” He added for good measure before pulling the feeder into a short-lived kiss. “Enough, now, okay?”  
“Okay.” Nodded Charlie, managing a stronger half-smile as his eyes decided to search the vampire's face. “Alright… Sorry.”  
“If I have to tell you again to stop apologising, there’s going to be a falling out between us.” Ralph playfully told him, just about managing to pull a laugh out of Charlie before he was rewarded for his efforts with a second, deeper kiss.  
“I actually had to apologise that time, though.” Charlie teased, moving and adjusting himself until he was sat on the vampire's lap.  
“Oh, well, I s’pose I could let you have that one.” Ralph smirked, placing a careful hand against the feeder’s side in order to keep him from falling.   
“You suppose, do you?” Charlie smirked right back, leaning forward some so that he could get at his vampire's neck and trace his jawline with a few kisses. 

× × × × ×

“You never told me how long you’ve been a vampire for.” Hummed Charlie, nuzzling himself into Ralph's shoulder and placing a few firm kisses there.   
“Have I not?” Frowned the vampire, taking a moment to consider the information and allow it to turn over a few times in his head before he pushed out his lower lip and shrugged.  
“No, you haven't.” Replied the feeder, slowly snaking an arm around Ralph.  
“It’s 2017, right?” Ralph asked, as if he had just landed from a separate timeline.  
“Yes, you idiot.” Charlie laughed, nudging at his vampire.  
“Then I got bit about nine years ago.” Sighed Ralph, shuffling a little in a bid to make himself comfortable. He didn't really want to think about the exact details or the hows and the wherefores of the whole ordeal, but here the memories were, regardless, taunting him. If Charlie’s softened interrogation continued then Ralph would simply deny the truth and pretend as if he couldn't remember any of the details because of how long ago it was. Or because it had all happened so fast. One of the two… Although, that meant that he was keeping quite the heavy secret from his partner and a large part of him squirmed at the very idea. With Dan, it had been difficult to hide things simply because of circumstance and he had a sneaking suspicion that any time those conversations with his oldest friend came about, it had a lot to do with alcohol. With Charlie, however; the fledgling feeder, the new lover, the sweet slender human beside him, it was harder to cough up any honesty regarding the matter.

“Dan got turned four or five years ago, right?” Oh thank Christ, the interrogation wasn't going to focus solely on his vampirism, it seemed, and when pressed for one, Ralph hummed a response. “So, for a good portion of when you were together, Dan was human… Was he ever your feeder?”  
“He wasn't a registered one, no.” Ralph told him. “He would let me take blood from him for some meals, but he was never a proper feeder.”  
“I see, did he not offer?” More questions.   
“No, and I didn't ask him to be.” Shrugged the vampire. “There wasn't much of a reason to. I was happy at the feeding stations for a while, before they became the stuff of nightmares.”  
“And that's why you asked me if I'd be your feeder?” Charlie’s question didn't need an answer, but Ralph hummed another response anyway for good measure.   
“If wondering about the underlying reasons I asked you then, yes, it did have something to do with you being cute.” Laughed the vampire.  
“Oh good, I was worried about the idea of you only using me for sex and mealtimes.” Charlie snarked. Judging from the heavy tone of sarcasm in his feeder’s voice, Ralph could almost see him rolling his eyes back there.  
“Oi, you know I love you.” Ralph replied, gently nudging his elbow back into Charlie. “You don't need me to tell you every five minutes like Dan needs Kyle to tell him.”  
“No, and besides that, you're very good at showing your love.” Charlie smiled, deciding then to add a few more firm kisses against Ralph's shoulder.  
“Show and, occasionally, tell. Not show and always tell.” Ralph tiredly grumbled, yanking the blanket up and over both him and his feeder.  
“It's worked out well, so far.” Mused Charlie with a yawn before, finally, settling himself down.  
“That's how it's supposed to be.” Ralph mumbled. “I don't need to tell you that I love you every second of the day, do I?”  
“Well no, but, that's not what I meant.” Charlie mumbled back.  
“What did you mean, then?” Blinked the vampire, a little confused.  
“I meant I like that you're better at showing me your love than you are at telling me that you do.* Charlie explained, giving him a gentle squeeze.  
“Oh, I see!” Sighed Ralph, taking the feeder’s hand in his own and pulling it as far as Charlie’s arm would physically allow him to.   
“Mhm, yeah… I love you, you great fool.” Charlie mumbled some more, punctuating his sentence with a happy little sigh.  
“I love you, too.” Ralph replied with a quiet laugh.


	7. you got scared, boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> out in dan's garden, he and ralph discuss the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, oh no

“I still wonder you know,” began Dan, frowning some as he watched Ralph fiddle with a roll up, “what would have happened between us had we stayed together.” The beer in his hand had obviously begun to turn the wrong cogs inside his mind, because he had no idea why else those words were released into the quiet night air. Why was it that whenever alcohol was added into the picture, Dan would find himself making the worst of confessions? And, furthermore, why were these confessions always given to Ralph, of all people?  
“I’ve told you before that we aren’t going to broach that subject again.” Ralph told him, finishing up the roll up and calmly putting it between his teeth. “But, seeing as you’re probably going to be pretty insistent on the whole thing... We wouldn’t have worked as a proper couple and you know that for a damn fact. We’re both too pessimistic for our own good, we’d depress each other to death if we didn’t fuck ourselves into exhaustion first.” He paused, flicked at his lighter a few times then sparked up. “Besides that, we’ve found the people who are right for us, now.”  
“Humour me, Ralph, for fuck’s sake.” Dan whined, tilting his head at the other vampire. “I want to know that the alternate version of us is happy. I want to know if, had there not been some major issues between us, we would have been happy together.”  
“You mean if I hadn’t bitten you?” Ralph mumbled, deciding then to look straight at the patchy grass beneath his feet. “You want to know if we would have been happy had I not bitten you... Honestly, I think that would have been worse.”  
“How so?” Dan narrowed his eyes at the suspicious claim, his grip on the beer bottle very gradually getting tighter the more he allowed himself to think about the subject.  
“You know exactly how so.” Ralph adamantly told him, pulling the cigarette away from his face and flicking some of the excess ash that had already come into existence. He didn’t want to go into this again, it was too much the last time they’d had this conversation, and it was worse now that they both had other people to share their beds with. To love, and properly love. Not like the way they had once pretended to love each other.  
“Pretend that I don’t.” Dan insisted, placing his beer bottle onto the patio table and forcing Ralph into making eye contact with him, daring the other vampire to leave him hanging. “Tell me how it would have been worse if you hadn’t bit me?”  
“Alright,” huffed Ralph, straightening himself up a little, “you would have ended up being my feeder and we would be such a toxic entity that it would have disintegrated everything else around us. You would just let me do whatever I wanted and I would have let you sit there and take it. You would have gotten worse, because of me, and I would have gotten worse because of the guilt I’d have knowing that you were unhappy because of me.” A dramatic pause as he took a long drag from his rollie. “Then one of us would have left, because we wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of it anymore and then we’d be even more miserable because we wouldn’t have each other at all anymore.”  
“I s’pose.” Mumbled Dan, shrugging one of his shoulders.  
“No s’pose about it!” Ralph said, shaking his head some. “Unless we were fucking or just hanging out as friends, we were not happy. You weren’t happy... And I don’t think make up sex and a weekly pint down the pub constitutes as the foundation of a happy relationship, do you?” That must have hit Dan’s core because it received no verbal response, only an awkward shuffle and a cough followed immediately by a solemn shake of his head. “No, I didn’t think so, somehow.”  
“Ralph, we tried, didn’t we?” Sighed the other vampire, locking his eyes on the burning end of Ralph’s cigarette. “We tried so hard.”  
“Too hard.” Ralph stated quietly. “Which only made our situation worse. We weren’t meant for each other, anyway. You were meant for Kyle and I was meant for Charlie, that’s how the cards were dealt and it wouldn’t matter how many times we tried to shuffle the pack, that’s how it would always be. I honestly don’t see a version of us that’s happy. I just see us making an art form of fucking or us arguing.”  
“I loved you, once.” Dan confessed. “Properly loved you, and I would have done anything to keep us afloat.”  
“But now you love Kyle.” Ralph reminded him. “And I love Charlie.”  
“Did you love me at all?” The question struck Ralph’s nerves and made his spine tense. Of course he had loved Dan, he still did, to an extent. It wasn’t the same love as it once had been then, and it definitely wasn’t the same love he felt for Charlie, but he still held a place in his heart for the vampire that was sitting opposite him.  
“You know I did, which was why I broke it off.” He replied, sucking some more at the end of his cigarette to get rid of the writhing in his stomach. “Besides that, and though it’s a different kind of love now, I still do love you. I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life.”

“I wouldn’t even be here if weren’t for you.” Dan mumbled. “You bit me to save my life, remember? It wasn’t like you were ripping my throat out or forcing the venom into me for the sake of doing it.”  
Reminded of that night, Ralph rolled his shoulders hovered the cigarette between his fingers over the empty lager can that was sat in the centre of the table and tapped ash into it a few times. He didn’t want to think about that right now, and he certainly didn’t need Dan to remind him of that night, either. It wasn’t fair for him to bring that up. It wasn’t fair to say that Ralph had saved his life by turning him into a vampire. No, that was a selfish move on his part; he wanted Dan to stay here with him instead of making his way to whatever was on the other side. He wanted to keep Dan here with him so that he wouldn’t be alone in his pessimistic tenancies. He wanted to give Dan a second chance at life just so that he could say that he had at least one close friend. He wanted Dan to stick around because he was selfish.  
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Ralph argued, shaking his head.  
“It’s true.” Dan countered, nodding. ‘That other vampire would have killed me had it not been for you.” He wasn’t happy about reliving that night, either. He didn’t remember much of it, and he certainly wasn’t a fan of the eight month holiday he had to endure after the fact, but what did remember was Ralph being there by his side. What did remember was being held and soothed by the grump across the table in such a gentle way that he wasn’t sure if it was the same person. What he did remember was Ralph gripping at his hand and pulling him close enough for Dan to be oddly comforted by the sound of his rapid, frightened heartbeat. It had given him something to focus on as Ralph’s venom erupted through his veins and changed his entire physiology. “Without you saving me, I wouldn’t be with Kyle. He’d still be with that arse he was with before we got together. Without you saving me, I wouldn’t have ended up with my fucking soul mate... I owe you everything.”  
“You don’t owe me shit.” Ralph snipped.  
“I do.” Dan snipped back. “You gave me a second life, I owe you that life.”  
“You repaid me when you introduced me to Charlie.” Ralph stated. “My fucking soul mate. You owe me nothing.”

“I never thanked you.” Dan mumbled after a while, watching as the other vampire dropped the cigarette end into the empty lager can. “For doing that for me. For saving me... I never thanked you.”  
“You didn’t need to.” Ralph shrugged, falling back into his seat and stretching his legs out.  
“I should have done, anyway.” Dan argued. “So, y’know... Thank you.”  
“To stop an argument I’m just going to say you’re welcome.” Ralph allowed himself a laugh, which, in turn, encouraged Dan to bring up a smile of his own.  
Before anymore could be said between them, Kyle had wandered out into the garden and decided to hover directly behind Dan for a moment or so before reaching to kiss his cheek.  
“Hey, you.” Smiled the vampire, leaning back and looking up at his feeder. “That was a nice hello. You usually call me a knobhead or something before you kiss me.”  
“Usually because you are being a knobhead.” Kyle laughed, shaking his head. “I wasn’t going to call you one without good reason.”  
“Fair enough.” Nodded Dan bursting into a laugh. “What’s up, anyhow? You don’t usually join me and Ralph out here.” The smile on Kyle’s face immediately disappeared when the question had registered in his mind and he was forced to break the calm happiness of the moment with some bad news. He shuffled anxiously over to the seat closest to his vampire and glanced between him and Ralph on the opposite side of the table. “What’s wrong?” Dan encouraged, lacing his fingers between Kyle’s.  
“Charlie.” Kyle began, chewing at the inside of his cheek. Ralph immediately sat bolt upright.  
“What happened?” Demanded the vampire, locking his gaze on the feeder in such a way that it made Kyle squeeze at Dan’s hand.  
“A witch.” Kyle said plainly. “A witch happened to him. Woody called, they were on the way over when this witch decided to cause trouble and Charlie got hurt. They’re at the hospital, now.”  
“Take me there, now.” Ralph ordered, getting out of the patio chair and grabbing his jacket.


	8. and I got gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> charlie discovers his true supernatural identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ????  
> !!!!

MINOR FLASHBACK

“So what’s going on at Dan and Kyle’s, then?” Woody asked, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking into the road to make sure that it was safe to cross.  
“We’re having that meeting Ralph talked about.” Charlie informed him, looking in the opposite direction before making the decision to cross over to the other side of the road and leading Woody down the shortcut Kyle had once shown him. “To set up the rota for who’s chaperoning Dan, when and why.”  
“Ah, that’s right, yeah.” Nodded the werewolf. “Will can’t this week, can he? He’s off on holiday or something. France, I think.” He stated, frowning some as he tried to remember the phone call. Between the pups running him ragged and the full moon coming up, he’d had a lot on his mind recently, so trying to remember any part of any conversation was proving rather difficult. Besides that, he wasn’t Will’s keeper, the vampire could have called Ralph, Dan or Kyle about that sort of thing. He probably had and was just being polite enough to let Woody in on the gossip. At least that’s what the werewolf hoped, anyway.  
“No, I know. He called Ralph the other night to say so.” Charlie nodded, giving Woody a rather large sense of relief. He wasn’t expected to pass on the news, that was good. “Just down this alley, here and then it’s only five minutes up the road before we get to Dan and Kyle’s street” Added the feeder, pointing down the brick-walled pathway, where a woman was striding down toward them. The echoed sound of her heels bounded around the space they shared.  
As they were about to pass the woman, she came to a sudden halt, her shoes scraping against the concrete ground as she turned to glare at Charlie’s entire being. A little stunned and unsure of what was happening, he gave her a polite sort of smile then made to continue following the path with Woody following close behind.  
“You’re a disgrace to our kind.” The woman hissed, pushing some of her hair back. “Letting a Leech feed off of you, hanging around with dogs. You’re giving the rest of us a bad name.” She paused to glare some more then rolled her eyes at the man before her. “And you’re Bound. Christ, you’re a fucking mess, aren’t you?”  
“I’m sorry?” Charlie blinked, taking a moment to glance between the woman and Woody a few times. When he had realised what she meant by bound, he frowned, confused by the accusation that he was a witch whose magic was under some sort of spell that denied him access to his true power. “I’m not a witch? I’m human.”  
“So is the entire population of witches. What makes us special is the fact that we were born with magic.” The woman snipped, straightening herself up and pulling out an iridescent stick from the inside of her bag. “Let me bring it out of you. You can be an honorary member of my coven.” Her now worrying behaviour made Charlie reverse back up against the wall and looked to Woody who immediately tried to step between them. With a lazy flick of her wrist, the werewolf was sent backward and flung onto the ground. “First step is to get rid of your unacceptable friends and useless pets.” A smile creeped onto her pale, painted face as she pointed her iridescent stick toward Charlie’s heart. Panicking, he tried shuffling away from her but found that the stick was pinning him to the wall behind him via the force of magic and he was unable to move.  
“What the fuck? Let me go!” He shouted still struggling against the witch’s very clear power. “I’m not a witch! I’m not Bound! Let me go!”  
“You didn’t know? Your mother must be an awful witch. Keeping her son from his true potential like that.” Continued the woman, gently placing a hand against Charlie’s face. “It won’t hurt, being unbound.”  
“Get away from me! Let me go!” Charlie demanded, furiously struggling against her and yanking his head away from her touch. “Leave me alone!”

A sudden flash of purple, blue and black fireworks erupted and exploded out of him in that moment; sending the witch back against the other wall and smacking Charlie’s head against the bricks behind him so hard that he was knocked unconscious. His body crumpled and fell to the floor just as Woody had managed to pull himself back together again and get onto his feet.  
“Charlie!” He shouted, immediately running over to him. “Charlie? Mate, can you hear me?” No answer.  
“He broke the spell himself.” Mumbled the witch, a wicked grin flashing across her face. She was pleased. She was happy with the consequential result of her taunting. “That was his magic, not mine. My colours are pink and gold... He broke the spell because his magic felt threatened.”  
“You better get the fuck out of here before I do something I most certainly will regret.” Woody growled back at her, pulling out his phone and dialling for the emergency services.

× × × × × ×

PRESENT

Slowly stirring awake, the first thing Charlie acknowledged was the pain in the back of his head, the second was a hand tightly gripping at his own and the third was the sound of a familiar voice greeting him. Was he...? No, no, they didn’t feel pain, did they? Ghosts? They certainly couldn’t hold someone’s hand. Confused, he blinked a few times then focused his energy on the figure that was sat next to him.  
“Ralph?” He breathed, making an attempt at movement before immediately coming to regret it. With his loud wince and uncomfortable movements, a spark of purple burnt at his vampire’s hand and made him snatch it away.  
“Fuck!” Hissed Ralph, taking a moment to inspect his hand before hesitantly returning it to it’s place in Charlie’s.  
“He’s a fucking witch!” Dan’s voice came from somewhere, a mixed tone of impressed and fearful in his voice as he declared his statement to the room.  
“Jesus...” Kyle’s voice immediately followed.  
“Where are we?” Charlie mumbled, still failing to notice how clinical the room around him was and the way everyone seemed to have congregated around the bed he was lying on.  
“Hospital, mate.” Kyle was the first to answer, while Ralph gently squeezed at the witch’s hand in a bid to reassure him that everything was going to be alright. Charlie’s eyes hovered on Kyle for a moment before settling on the vampire beside him.  
“I don’t really remember what happened... I remember this witch girl pinning me against a wall and I remember Woody being there... And... Purple. I remember seeing purple.” He mumbled, searching into Ralph’s eyes for some form of clarity to the situation but finding none. “Where’s Woody?”  
“I’m here, mate.” Woody replied, giving him a weak wave when Charlie managed to look in his direction. “I was a bit winded, but I’m fine.”  
“What happened?” Charlie asked quietly. “And the witch girl? Where’s she?” The panic in his voice in that moment had Ralph’s grip squeeze just that little bit tighter. Calm down, said the action. I’m here, it assured him.  
“She’s not going to do anything to you, mate...” Woody sighed. “I told her to fuck off after what happened. She told you that you were a Bound witch, whatever that means, and that you were a disgrace to witches because you hang out with me and let Ralph feed from you. She was going to do something to you with some sort of wand, I s’pose? She magicked me onto the floor then the next thing I know, you’re shouting at her to leave you alone and this massive spark of purple, blue and black came out of you and sent you both flying. You smacked your head against the wall and fell onto the floor, she got thrown into the wall on the other side of the alley but she turned out fine.”  
“How did we get here, then?” Charlie frowned, just about managing to piece together his own memory of the incident.  
“I called an ambulance... Then called Kyle, seeing as Ralph was already at their’s.” Woody confessed, shrugging some.  
“Oh, okay.” Nodded Charlie, as if the vital piece of information that had caused his injury hadn’t quite sunk in. Then, suddenly another spark of purple appeared, sending Ralph back a little bit. With wide, frightened eyes, Charlie looked from his vampire down to his hand, where an ominously purple energy was lighting up most of his palm. This was magic. A physical manifestation of Charlie’s magic. It seemed it was true, he was, indeed, a witch. “I can’t be a witch.” He said adamantly, shaking his head some. “I just can’t be.” There was a panic in his chest that seemed to make the purple in his hand gain streaks of blue and dots of black and his vampire come right back to side.  
“Hey, hey, take it easy. Your magic isn’t under control just yet and it’s reacting to your emotions.” Ralph soothed, taking the time to gently explain, as he usually did, what was happening. “It’s alright.” He added, making a point of sitting on the edge of the bed beside his feeder and pulling him into a tight embrace before kissing the top of his head. “You’re safe.”

“Was your mum a witch?” Dan was the one to break the silence, just as soon as it had settled in the room, which immediately earned him a glare from Ralph. Of course he had to be the one to bring it up.   
“Yeah, but that gene skips the men in the family.” Charlie told him. “I can’t be a witch because I didn’t get the gene. She told me so, herself.”  
“Baby, listen, she might have told you that to keep you safe.” Ralph mumbled. “Maybe she saw how powerful your magic was, Bound you, then told you that you couldn’t be a witch because of genetics so that you wouldn’t end up hurting yourself.”  
“Or other people?” Charlie added, frowning a little as he considered the long history of evidence he had in the back of his mind. “She lied to me for years to protect me?”  
“Probably because your magic was too powerful for you to handle.” Ralph nodded.  
“Three colours in magic is rare, mate.” Dan commented quietly. “You have three colours. Purple, blue and black... Only the most powerful witches have more than two magic colours. I looked it up once. Normally only coven leaders have that much power.”  
“I didn’t ask for it. I wasn’t even aware that I had it at all, now I’m qualified to be a coven leader? I don’t fucking think so.” Charlie snipped. “I just want to be a regular human that feeds his vampire. I don’t want to be some powerful witch.” The panic was coming back again, bubbling inside his chest. He felt Ralph’s hand squeeze at his shoulder then immediately nuzzled into the vampire’s shoulder. He didn’t want to talk about being a witch anymore, he just wanted to go home and go to bed.  
“Maybe we should get some coffee or something?” Kyle mumbled, looking between Woody and Dan. Woody nodded his agreement and shuffled towards the door, with Kyle, close behind, yanking his own vampire put of the room.  
“Sorry, Charlie.” Dan sighed before he was dragged through the door and forced to close it behind him.

Now alone in the room, Charlie managed to move up just enough so that Ralph could comfortably lie down next to him. Once they were in their natural positions on the bed, the witch buried his face into Ralph’s chest.  
“I’m scared.” He whimpered. “I don’t want magic at all, let alone magic that powerful.”  
“We’ll figure it out, don’t you worry.” Ralph soothed, making a point of stroking through Charlie’s hair. “I love you.”  
“I love you, too.” Charlie mumbled trying his best to nuzzle further into the vampire.  
“I know you do.” Smiled Ralph. “And I’m glad you’re safe.”  
“Don’t leave me.” The request was sudden and sad, as if Charlie was afraid that Ralph might abandon him now that he was exactly the same as his VTC tormentor. “Please.”  
“Charlie, baby, I’m not leaving you.” Ralph told him. “I know for a fact that you’re not like those other witches and you’re definitely not like that fucker from the VTC... And I know that you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose with your magic.”  
“I’m sorry about that.” More sad, panicked mumbling. “I didn’t know I was doing it.”  
“Hey, hush, now. Come on, you just rest yourself on me, like at home, and get some sleep, yeah?” Ralph suggested, adjusting himself so that Charlie could be comfortable. He kissed his feeder’s head and pulled him close. “Just go back to sleep, it’ll do you some good.”  
“I need you Ralph,” Charlie continued, “please don’t leave me.”  
“Charlie. I adore everything about you, and I don’t care that you’re a witch. I love you and I’m not going to leave you, alright?” Ralph’s stern tone warned the feeder not to argue anymore.  
“Alright.” Charlie agreed, deciding to heed the warning and simply snuggled into the vampire.


	9. now you failed & there's no way

“You’re an idiot.” Kyle hissed after grabbing at Dan’s hand and pulling him close once they were out in the hallway.  
“If I had a pound for every time you said that I’d have enough to fill Scrooge McDuck’s pool.” Dan sighed, fighting hard with the urge to roll his eyes by glancing over the NHS posters that were dotted about the place. Some were old, battered and dog-eared, just about clinging onto the pins that held them in place; others were shiny, hopeful and new, encouraging people to be aware of certain things. There was one about the real dangers of antibiotics, there was another on feeding correctly and one informing visitors about last winter’s flu pandemic, hidden amongst the other leaflets and posters that had been put up and, presumably, ignored over the years.  
“You could see that Charlie was stressing out and Ralph gave you that look he always gives you when he’s pissed at you and you were still determined to keep talking about the whole witch thing.” Kyle continued, pretending to ignore Dan’s attempt at making a joke to ease the tension. “How would you have felt if someone did that to you when you found out that you were a vampire?”  
“I apologised!” Dan snipped, being careful to avoid eye contact with any of the people that sauntered passed them up the opposite end of the hallway. “If you want me to do it again, then I’ll be more than happy to, but it’s not as if I meant to blurt it all out.”  
“You better apologise to him properly when we come and visit next or so help me.” Kyle warned angrily, glaring at his vampire.  
“So help you what? What could you possibly do?” Dan teased, trying out a smirk as he locked eyes with the feeder.  
“Don’t do that.” Kyle told him, shaking his head some. “You know what that does to me... Besides, I’m being serious. You best apologise to Charlie, and Ralph, properly when we come next or I’m not going to be happy with you.”  
“Alright, I promise I’ll apologise properly when I get the chance.” Agreed the vampire, squeezing at Kyle’s hand just for good measure, to show that he meant his promise and that he was willing to come through on said promise.  
“Thank you.” Kyle breathed, pausing to give Dan a grateful kiss on the cheek. “’Ere, Woods, how are the pups?” It was time to change the subject onto something happier, something less awkward, and turning the conversation onto Woody’s little pups was the best topic to do that with. Besides that, Kyle had been itching to ask about them from the moment his werewolf friend had greeted them earlier that afternoon.  
“They’re a bloody nightmare,” Woody laughed, “but they’re fine, thank you.”  
“That’s good to hear!” Beamed Kyle, unconsciously squeezing at his vampire’s hand when he had a fleeting thought of sadness at the idea that he and the idiot beside him would probably never have pups of their own. He didn’t need to think about that right now. He wanted to focus on this conversation instead.  
“I’m stressing out a bit because of it being away from them this full moon and that the littlest one is going to be stuck with my mother for the weekend because of that.” Admitted the werewolf with a sigh. Apparently, the universe had decided that he wasn’t feeling suitably stressed out by the upcoming full moon and had made it so that he was forced to be away from his family, his regular Changing Room and that his youngest child would be stuck at his mother’s being subjected to over the top cooing and being thrown out of her usual routine because his mother was trying too hard to be a good grandmother. He wanted to be home, but he was aware of the importance behind him being here in London, especially with Will being away. It was no good to have two members on the bench when your team was already in some hot water.  
“She'll be fine, mate.” Dan told him, offering something of a reassuring smile. “Besides, Nanas are supposed to spoil their grandkids, no matter what age... And it is just for the weekend.”  
“Yeah, but she’s never been away from us for more than a night.” Woody countered, growing more concerned about the whole thing than he was being reassured by the vampire.  
“Dan’s right, she’ll be fine.” Kyle nodded, helping to double down on the idea that things were going to run as smoothly as water off a duck’s back when there was the very high chance that they probably would not. The werewolf let out another sigh and shrugged. Would he have been so worried had he been at home? Probably. He was always worried about the full moon. It wasn’t exactly a fun process, to be fair. It wasn’t like being a vampire where they were a monster all the time. No, he had to be locked up in a cell and suffer through a physical change. He had to go through an extreme amount of pain and change from human into a larger version of a wolf-like thing.  
“I s’pose so.” He managed, trying out a smile to show that he had at least considered the idea that things were definitely going to be alright. 

x x x x x x

"Ralph?" Charlie's voice was soft; barely audible over the general ambience of the ward. Instead of replying properly, Ralph simply hummed, nodded and put his phone to one side so that he could focus his full attention on the witch that was clinging to him for dear life, adjusting himself somewhat to make it easier to face the slightly smaller man. "Do they hate me?"  
Confused by the question, Ralph blinked then frowned. "Who?"  
"Dan and the others?" Mumbled Charlie. "I know they hate witches. Do they hate me?"  
"No," Ralph replied, shaking his head, "they don't... And neither Kyle nor Woody have had any particularly strong feelings on witches." He paused, trying to figure out what was going through his feeder's mind. He knew about the VTC witch; the vampire had told him about the VTC witch. The psychopath that had left scars on so many vampires ever since his initial employment in the Training Centre, including Ralph, Dan and Will. Each of them had their own scars, scorched handprints in various places against their bodies and flashes of memories they deeply wished that they did not have hiding in the deepest recesses of their minds but their dislike - no, their hatred, was directed at that specific witch. Sure, there were more bad witches than there were good ones, but there was nothing within any of them that could, or ever would, hate a witch like Charlie. Ralph sighed and gently placed his head against the feeder's. "Listen to me, now," he commanded quietly, "just because you've found out that you're a witch, it doesn't change anything about you. You are still Charlie; my Charlie. You're still sweet and kind and funny. You're still you and I still love you." He made a point of kissing him in a bid to try and make damn sure that this information was sinking in. "And the guys? They know you, so they don't hate you. Okay?"  
Charlie shuffled a little, trying his best to hide himself in Ralph's shoulder. "Okay." He mumbled, having decided that continuing with the argument was probably a bad idea. Circling around the idea that he was now going to be the group's social paraiah while his vampire gently countered every single argument that he would attempt to make. Circling around the idea that he was now evil, all because of what he'd heard about a lot of witches - most notably, the one that had tortured his friends and his lover throughout their individual sentences at the VTC. He didn't want to be associated with such an evil person in any way, shape or form; let alone through the one basic, supernatural trait they now shared - magic. It frightened Charlie to know that he had so much power and that he could, at any moment, snap and become one of those bad witches. It frightened him to know that he was connected to them. It frightened him that his very presence could very well cause issues for his friends and his vampire now. He didn't want to lose any of them, not after spending so much time looking for them and after working so hard on keeping them close, and he especially didn't want to lose them because of something he couldn't change about himself. Because of something he hadn't previously known was even a part of him at all.  
"Charlie, I told you about this earlier, so please don't make me tell you again." Ralph told him, squeezing at the witch.  
"I love you." Came the quiet reply.  
"I know."

x x x x x x

"Babe, I keep thinking..." Kyle's voice interrupted the comfortable silence that had fallen over the bedroom. "About Charlie."  
Dan took a moment to study his feeder's face then blinked as he finally registered what was being said. "What about him?"  
"I'm worried about him not being able to cope with or accept his magic." Confessed Kyle.  
"You're worried about the fact that he's a feeder as well as a witch, too, aren't you?" Asked the vampire, tilting his head at his feeder, trying to gain a good grasp of what his lover was thinking and where the conversation should be picked up. If it was supposed to be picked up at all, that is. "He's still human, he just has magic in him. He's allowed to feed Ralph."  
"No, I wasn't worried about that." Frowned Kyle, shaking his head. "I'm worried that because he's so scared of what he's found out about himself that he might do something stupid." Ah, yes, that made much more sense.  
"Because he'll be convinced that because he's a witch, he'll become a horrible, evil fuck like that one from the VTC?" Dan tried another offering now that he properly understood what his feeder was trying to say.  
"Yeah." Nodded the feeder. "I'm worried that he'll reject himself and then cut himself off from us... And Ralph... And maybe do something stupid."  
"Kyle, Ralph wouldn't let him do that." The vampire told him, plainly. "Ralph would convince him otherwise, remind him that he's loved no matter what he is... Shit, we'd remind him of that. Charlie isn't going to do anything stupid because we're not going to let him." He elaborated, making it very clear now that he, too, was worried about Charlie, but also that he was determined to keep him safe. A part of him thought that perhaps it was for Ralph's sake, but he countered his own argument by saying that it was, ultimately, for Charlie's sake. He was already new to the supernatural side of life as it was, by becoming a vampire's feeder without finding out that he had been a witch the whole time on top of that. It made Dan think of when he was first exposed to that side of life; the supernatural side of life. When Ralph had told him about being a vampire and how he was desperate for something to eat... How Dan had been the one to feed him. It was frightening, extremely so, to see a life that, before, he hadn't even thought about, let alone imagined. What was even more frightening was waking up in his bed one morning only to be told that he was now a vampire and that someone from the VDJ was coming to collect him within the hour. He appreciated Ralph saving his life, of course he did, but at the same time... It felt like he had been cursed. Still, he wasn't about to say anything out loud. There was no point; the argument would be moot.

"I know we're looking after your idiot self right now, but we have to look out for Charlie, too." Kyle's quiet statement immediately had his vampire nod in agreement. For once, they were in agreement over something without having to go through the usual dramatics or cycle of arguments first and that, for some reason, gave the feeder a great sense of relief.  
"I'll talk to Ralph." Dan promised, offering Kyle a weak smile before he reached over to give him a soft peck on the cheek. "See what we can do to help him with Charlie's witch stuff, if there's anything at all."  
"Alright... That sounds like a good idea." Kyle agreed, allowing for his vampire to settle himself against him and wrapping an arm around Dan. "I just want to make sure that he's going to be okay, y'know? I can't imagine what he's going through."  
"Hopefully, you won't ever have to know." Dan mumbled. "Finding out that you're supernatural is like having the rug being pulled from underneath you, or being punched in the gut... I damn near lost my mind when Ralph initially told me that I'd been turned."  
"Thankfully, he managed to stabilise you or Christ knows what would have happened." Kyle replied.  
"He didn't stabilise me... The VTC did." Dan corrected him, sniffing hard as he tried to ignore the sudden void in his chest as he thought about it some more. "Then you, Will and Ralph helped bring me out of that shell I was in after I'd come out of there. Trust me, this being a vampire shit isn't worth your time. It destroys you."  
"I know it does." The feeder agreed, squeezing at his vampire's shoulders before deciding to pull him close and kiss the top of his head. "I've seen it first hand, remember."  
"I'd give anything to be human again but there's nothing anyone can do." Sighed the vampire, grabbing at Kyle's shirt and tightening his grip on the fabric. "I'm a vampire now and that's my life... I made my peace with that years ago."  
"Not entirely, but I get why that is." Kyle countered, running a hand through Dan's hair.  
"Still, if I hadn't been turned, I wouldn't have you." Dan hummed, trying out a smile again. "I like having you. You make me feel normal... Sort of."  
"I get it." Laughed Kyle, nodding. "Apart from when you feed from me, I make you feel like you're just a regular human again, right?"  
"Exactly that, yeah." Sniggered Dan, looking up at his feeder with a wider, brighter smile. "And I love you so much for making me feel like that."  
"I love you, too... I think I'd love you regardless of what you were." Kyle told him. "As much of a royal pain in the arse as you are, I'd still love you no matter what you were."  
"Well, that's good to know." Replied Dan, deciding then that he was going to straighten himself up then swing a leg over Kyle's waist; making a point of leaning in slowly and closely as physically possible so that he could tease his feeder with a gentle nudge against his nose. "Because I'd love you back."  
"Would you, now?" Kyle replied, placing one of his hands against Dan's side to help keep him balanced. "No matter what I was?"  
"No matter what you were, or what time period we were in, or whatever... I'd always love you back." Dan told him, allowing his heart to take control of his tongue for a moment or two. "Because although our antics in here might say otherwise, you own me." He added, finally giving into his own craving and pushing into a deep kiss.  
"I own you?" Kyle was sceptical, possibly even a little confused by the statement.  
"Yeah," nodded the vampire, "you own me... I'd do anything for you, because you own my soul."  
A smile broke across one side of the feeder's face. "Fucking Hell, you're such a drama queen, aren't you?" He laughed.  
"It's true, though." Insisted the vampire, nudging against his feeder's nose a few more times. "You own me, and that's why I'm helpless when it comes to trying to resist you."  
"Well if it is true, why don't you prove it and let me tell you what to do for once?" Kyle teased, letting his other hand find its way under Dan's shirt and tracing the line the bone of his hip made.  
"Fine..." Grinned the vampire, unintentionally allowing a quiet gasp to escape him as he felt the cold of Kyle's fingers against his skin. "You're in charge, tonight. How's that?"  
"Perfect." Smirked the feeder, pulling Dan into a kiss.


	10. to turn back time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an intruder interrupts kyle and dan's sentimental moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you thought it was gonna be all cute.  
> you were wrong, haha!

Panting as he flopped onto his back, the vampire couldn’t help but break into a wide smile. Meanwhile, his feeder had turned onto his side to admire the purity of Dan’s happiness for a moment or two, giving him a moment to catch his breath, before snuggling up against him.  
“So, how was it, then?” Kyle smirked. “Me being in charge?”  
“Fucking amazing!” Breathed Dan, glancing over his lover, still wearing that stupid, shit-eating grin. “You should be in charge more often, fucking hell.” He added for good measure, leaning over to give his feeder a well-earned kiss.  
“Oh good, I’m glad you agree.” Sniggered Kyle, searching into his vampire’s eyes for a short while, trying his hardest not to get lost in them.  
“We should make it a regular thing.” Dan stated with a nod.  
“How regular?” Laughed Kyle. “Please don’t tell me that you’re already making a rota for our sexual adventures in your head.”  
“I wasn’t, but now that you’ve said it, I’m going to.” Dan replied, shrugging some. With that, Kyle lost his composure and burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. A couple of times he’d actually snorted and that made Dan start losing his composure to laughter. Fucking Hell, was he lucky to have someone as adorable and utterly pure as Kyle was. Having someone to laugh at his stupid jokes with warmed him; being able to wake up next to this feeder warmed him; loving someone as much as he loved Kyle and not have it thrown back in his face warmed him. “Let’s see,” he continued with the joke, “I’m in charge Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you’re in charge Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and we alternate on Sunday?”  
“Sounds like a plan.” Nodded the feeder, still beaming and trying his best to hide his laughter.  
“Fucking hell, you’re cute, you know that?” Dan said, pulling Kyle up into a kiss.  
“If I didn’t, I’m sure you’d tell me a million times a day.” Kyle told him, gently nudging at his vampire’s nose a few times.  
“I love you.” Was the response, followed by an attempt to return the gentle nudging. “So much.”  
“You tell me that often enough, too.” Kyle mumbled.  
“It’s true, though.” Dan argued, frowning some. “I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you.”  
“Not even Ralph?” The feeder’s question was turned over once in the back of the vampire’s mind.  
“You’re the one I’ve actually fallen for.” He replied. “I thought I was in love with Ralph, a long time ago... Then you came crashing into my life and I couldn’t help but be drawn to you instead. Like we were, I don’t know, connected somehow?” He frowned at his poor explanation. “It’s hard to explain but what I’m trying to say is that the way I love you isn’t the same as how I thought I loved Ralph. He’s the same with Charlie.”  
“What you’re trying to say is that Ralph was your first love and I’m the One.” Kyle suggested, adjusting himself somewhat.

“Yeah, I s’pose?” Blinked the vampire, trying his best to rearrange his thoughts so that they made some resemblance of sense. “All I know is that I lo-“  
Before Dan could finish his thought a loud bang followed by the crashing of glass cut through the silence and interrupted their quite sweet conversation. As soon as the sound had hit his ears, the vampire bolted upright and hopped off the bed, snatching up a pair of shorts from off the floor.  
“What the fuck was that?” Kyle hissed, doing the same, tripping into a pair of joggers that he was sure were actually Dan’s.  
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” Nodded the vampire, looking around for his phone and making his way out onto the landing.  
“Not on your own, you aren’t!” Snipped the feeder, scurrying close behind, managing to grab a hefty golf umbrella from out of its spot in the corner of the room.  
“What the fuck is that for?” Snapped Dan, glancing between the umbrella and his feeder with an air of angry confusion.  
“To smack the bastard that broke in?” Kyle angrily whispered back. “What do you think I was going to do with it? Stick it up my arse?”  
“For fuck’s sake, shut up or they’ll hear us.” Dan muttered, bringing a finger to his lips as he carefully made his way to the top of the stairs. More banging, louder this time, followed by more crashing of glass. Whoever they were, they seemed determined to break every window in the house. The vampire paused for a moment to see if he could hear anything else; find any sign that this person was looking for something to steal or if they were looking for someone. With the eerie silence being interrupted by the sound of heavy-footed shuffling, he was made aware that the person was inside the house. “Fuck, they’re downstairs.” He mouthed to Kyle, pointing downward.  
“What do we do?” Kyle mouthed back, worriedly scanning Dan’s face, to which he was given a shrug in response. “Fucking hell, I’m going down there.” He told his vampire, yanking his arm away when Dan had tried to pull him back as he stomped down the stairs, umbrella held above his head as if it were a baseball bat.  
He moved cautiously around the lower floor, taking his time as he looked into the kitchen and down the hallway. There he saw that the door had been well and truly smashed into. There was glass from the panes inside the door strewn all over the floor in pieces, sparkling in the light thrown into the house by the street light outside, while the door itself looked as if it had been buckled in half by some kind of heavy force. A panic rose in his chest when he heard the shuffling becoming louder as he approached the living room and Kyle decided then to tighten his grip on the umbrella in his hands.  
Meanwhile, upstairs, a distraught Dan was unsure of what exactly he should do. He played with the phone in his hands, opening it up and staring at his contacts, trying to figure out if it was best to call the police and follow Kyle down or to call Ralph. He chewed at the corner of his lower lip, his thumb hovering over Ralph’s name then tapped at the screen and brought the phone to his ear. It rang twice before he heard someone pick up.  
“Hello?” Shit, Dan had woken up the other vampire.  
“Ralph, mate, listen to me-“ Dan began, trying his best to stay quiet in his hiding spot at the top of the stairs.  
“Dan? It’s three in the morning, what the fuck do you want?” Ralph snipped.  
“Listen to me!” Dan hissed down the line. “Some fucker’s broken into our house. They’re downstairs and Kyle’s gone down there after them. What the fuck do I do?”  
“Don’t leave him on his own, you fucking idiot!” Ralph angrily replied. “Hang up, call the police and go down to Kyle. I’ll be over as soon as I can.”  
“What if we get hurt? What if Kyle gets hurt?” Dan babbled, an anxious tug at his chest making it difficult to breathe and a rapid beating of his heart forcing his entire body to shake violently. “Ralph, I don’t want him to get hurt.”  
“Then listen to me; hang up, call the police and go down to him. If anything happens, get in between Kyle and whoever it is, that way he won’t get hurt. Alright?” Ralph said, sounding a little calmer and somewhat more sympathetic of Dan’s fears. “Like I said, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”  
“Okay...” Dan nodded before shakily taking his phone away from the side of his face and hanging up. Immediately, he dialled the emergency services and asked for the police. He briefly explained what was happening then put the phone into his pocket, not daring to hang up. They would be there soon, he was told, just try to stay out of sight. Everything would be alright. Not if Kyle was downstairs, it wouldn’t be. The Vampire took a deep breath and quietly made his way downstairs, finding his feeder stood just behind the doorway that lead into the living room.  
“He’s in there.” Kyle whispered, using his head to gesture toward the living room.  
“The police are on the way.” Dan whispered back, pointing at his pocket to indicate that he was still on the line with the operator.  
“What if-?” Before the question was even finished, the tall, broad shouldered brick shithouse loped out of the living room and loomed over the two figures that were waiting for him in the hallway. “Fuck.” Kyle blurted, freezing on the spot, the umbrella still hovering above his head.  
“I take it you’re the one who fucked with Len?” Growled the large vampire, glaring right at Dan. Swallowing down some air, the somewhat shorter and much lankier vampire squirmed at the question. How the fuck was he supposed to know who Len was? Although, thinking about it, it was probably the name that belonged to the Bloodline recruiter at the tube station. “I’ve come on behalf of the Bloodline. They would very much like to have a chat with you.”  
“Well they can get fucked!” Shouted Kyle, suddenly finding enough energy to swing the umbrella round and give the intruding vampire a good smack to the face with the sharper end of his weapon.  
“You his walking blood bag? You’ve got some spunk, haven’t ya?” Smirked the big bastard, grabbing the umbrella and yanking it out of Kyle’s hands. He threw it aside and grabbed at the feeder’s throat, slamming him into the wall. “Too bad you’ve got nothing on a vampire’s strength, mate.”  
“Let him go!” Blurted Dan, grabbing at the other vampire’s arm and attempting to pull him off Kyle. “Let him go!” He shouted again, ducking underneath the tree trunk of an arm and popping up between his human and the intruder. “It’s me you want, anyway, right? Let him go and I’ll come with you.”  
Unable to force out any sort of clear words, Kyle choked and widened his eyes, giving his vampire a swift but light kick to one of his legs. Dan glanced over his shoulder and gave the feeder a look that told him that it was going to be okay. That this was simply a distraction to stop Kyle from getting hurt any more than he might have done already.  
“You’re willing to come with me to meet my leader so your blood bag can live?” The goon seemed genuinely surprised at the very idea of a vampire actually caring for the wellbeing of their feeder. “That’s adorable.” He snorted, eventually letting Kyle go, making the feeder stumble a little as he was dropped onto the ground, wheezing and bent double in a bid to catch his breath.  
Without thinking twice about it, Dan looked the other vampire dead in the eyes, pulled up a sinister sort of smirk then grabbed the heaviest object off the side table to his left before swinging it right between the goon’s legs. Immediately, the bigger vampire buckled over and howled in agony, while Dan dropped the ornament, grabbed Kyle’s hand and ran back upstairs.  
Once they were safely back in the bedroom, the vampire slammed the door shut and locked it before shifting the dresser over to it in a crude attempt at making a barricade.  
“Are you okay?” He asked his feeder, his eyes running up and down the human’s figure with a worrying amount of concern.  
“I’m fine.” Nodded Kyle, slumping onto the edge of the bed.


	11. you had your chance, boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dan meets the Bloodline cult leader

“Are you sure?” Dan insisted, scurrying over to his feeder and taking his head in his hands, pulling his face up so that their eyes locked.  
“My throat hurts a bit, but yeah, I’m sure.” Kyle replied, before being rewarded for his answer with a deep kiss.  
“Let me see your neck.” The vampire ordered, the adrenaline in his body surging and forcing his nerve endings to vibrate as he used a shaky hand to lift Kyle’s head. There wasn’t anything there... Yet. There would be at some point but, for now, thankfully, there were no marks made against his feeder’s skin. “No bruise. Good.” He nodded when he had finally convinced himself of the fact. “You shouldn’t have done that.” He added quietly before kissing the top of his human’s head.  
“Yeah, well, I had to do something.” Argued Kyle, allowing himself to lean forwards and be embraced by the vampire. “I wasn’t going to let that fat prick take you to the cult’s lair.”  
“Babe, I wouldn’t have let him take me.” Dan sighed, bringing up a softened version of a smile. “The police will be here soon and Ralph is on his way, too, so it’s going to be alright.” He reassured the feeder, squeezing a little at his shoulders.  
“You really think that he’s not going to get through that?” Kyle mumbled, referring to the makeshift barricade Dan had made.  
“He’ll try but I doubt it.” Dan said, trying to sound confident.  
“What do we do in the meantime?” Kyle sighed, wrapping his arms around Dan’s waist.  
“We wait for the police and Ralph to show up.” Dan told him. “If he tries to get through, I’ll push back on the dresser to stop him from getting in.”  
“If you get hurt or if that fuck manages to get through and take you to the cult, I’ll kill him.” Kyle stated ominously. “I’ll find a way of killing that cunt if he hurts you.”  
“Kyle,” began Dan, “I’m not worth the life sentence.”  
“Yes, you fucking are.” Argued Kyle. “I don’t know what I’d do without you here.” Deciding against arguing any more, the vampire simply squeezed at the feeder again and kissed his head.

Suddenly, the door behind him start banging loudly as the goon had eventually made his way upstairs and found the only closed door on the landing. The dresser scraped somewhat and shuddered, but it didn’t budge from it’s spot behind the wood of the door, thankfully.  
“Get out here you little fuck!” Boomed the Bloodline goon, smashing himself into the door. Once, twice, three times; each time making the dresser shudder and rock back against the door with all of its weight.  
“Fuck off!” Dan shouted back, releasing Kyle and running to the dresser, pressing all of his strength against it as he fought with the other vampire on the other side. The banging continued, with more force behind it this time, scraping the dresser and Dan backwards somewhat.  
“Get out here!” Snarled the fuck behind the door, pushing a few more times until, eventually, Dan was forced onto the floor and the dresser had skidded away from the door enough for the other vampire to enter the bedroom. Immediately the scrawnier vampire scurried away, got up and stood between the burlier one and his feeder. “Come with me now and there won’t be any more trouble. Don’t and I’m going to cause a lot more.” Warned the brick shithouse, grabbing at Dan’s arm and yanking him forward.  
“No!” Dan shouted back, fighting against his grip. “Get the fuck off me!” He cried, pulling and yanking in a desperate attempt to be freed.  
With a swift, hard punch to the face, things became a little warped.  
“Dan!” Kyle’s voice swam through his ears as he buckled and weakly crumpled to the floor, his arm still held high above his head. “You fucking cunt!”  
Then black.

× × × × × ×

Waking up with a jolt, Dan found himself in very unfamiliar territory. This wasn’t his bedroom, this wasn’t his house and the shirt that had been pulled onto him definitely wasn’t one of his own. He sat up on the bed and scanned his immediate area; where was Kyle? He tried getting up and moving to the door but found that he had been tethered to the iron frame of the bed by a long-chained shackle. The vampire yanked at the chain a few times only to give up when he realised that the bed wasn’t going to move and that the chain wasn’t going to give way.  
“What the fuck?” He breathed, turning to get a full view of the relatively small room he was in. The walls were bare apart from a blue stripe that had been spray painted against the centre on the wall above the bed, followed by the words Only A Superior Bloodline Will Thrive scrawled above it. The goon had taken him to the cult’s lair and, quite unfortunately, succeeded in his mission. An intense anxiety started banging around in his chest when he thought about Kyle. What had happened to him? Was he hurt? What did the goon do to him? Did Ralph or the police get to the house to find Dan missing and Kyle sprawled on the wooden floor of the bedroom? Was he okay? Would any of them know how to find him? Was Kyle here, too, being hidden away from him? Was he--? 

The door behind him opened, making him jump and turn to face three people as they entered the room. Two male vampires and a female. The males were dressed in some sort of uniform made up of mostly black with a blue stripe on their left arm and across their faces while she, the female, was dressed as though she was some sort of royal. A long, flowing blue dress clung to her shoulders that were only just hidden by her long, dark hair and silver jewellery was prominent, the two largest pieces being a silver pendant hanging from her neck and a plain sliver band in her hair used as some sort of tiara. She, too, had the blue stripe across her face, but there was a thin line of silver framing it, apparently to indicate that she was different to the others. Dan ignored the two males and focused his energy on cautiously scanning her instead. She was calm but that sweet little smile on her face made his stomach lurch. He was uncomfortable in her presence and something about her aura told him that she was pleased with that reaction.  
“Hello,” she greeted, “my name is Princess Mara, the leader of our resistance group. I’m to understand that you and I need to have a discussion about your behaviour towards one of my recruiters?” Dan didn’t respond, he simply looked her dead in the eyes and glared. He wasn’t going to waste his breath on this nonsense, he needed to plan his escape. “I will let you leave our home once we have discussed the matter, but, for now, you will have to make yourself comfortable.”  
“Oh yes, this shackle around my ankle is absolutely weightless. If it wasn’t for the chain making a noise I wouldn’t even be aware that I was even wearing it at all.” Snipped Dan, tilting his head at the vampire who referred to herself as a princess despite being the leader of an unholy cult. At that, one of the male vampires made a step toward him, but Mara immediately raised a hand as a silent order to leave Dan be.  
“You have a spark.” She smirked. “I like it... Makes a change from the terrified stammering.” The casual air of her tone immediately rubbed Dan the wrong way, sending an uncomfortable chill down his spine. “Oh, and your feeder seems to have that spark, too. It’s sweet that you are a matching pair.”  
“If Kyle’s hurt I will end you.” Dan blurted, not for a moment skipping a beat. No one would get away with hurting his feeder, his lover, his everything, especially not this extremely entitled bitch.  
“Will you, now?” Mara replied, lazily waving her hand at one of the males who immediately stepped forward and grabbed at Dan’s arm. “You aren’t displaying any of the proper manners one should have when they are speaking with royalty... If I were offended, I would call it rude.” She mused, taking a few steps forward and placing a hand on the struggling vampire’s cheek. He immediately pulled away from her touch and glared at her. “In fact, what you currently should be doing is getting to your knees and showing me respect. I am, after all, a royal of your species and should be treated as such.”  
“Fuck off.” Laughed Dan, shaking his head. “You’re not a royal vampire, you’re just a cult leader with too much ego.” He spat the salt into the wound, just for good measure. “You’re less Duchess of Cambridge and more Anne Hamilton-Byrne. Fucking royal of my species.” He made a face as he shook his head a second time. “Unless they’re my boyfriend, I refuse to get on my knees for anyone.”  
Mara glanced between Dan and the vampire that was currently holding onto him then gave the goon a single nod. At that, he forced the scrawnier vampire down, pressing down on his shoulders to make damn sure that Dan wouldn’t get back up again. Once he was relatively still, Mara bent down to his level and placed a hand against his cheek, using a thumb to stroke against the bone. Again, Dan pulled away from her touch and glared at her. Who the fuck did this bitch think she was?  
“See, that wasn’t so hard, now, was it?” Smiled the self-proclaimed princess. “A little respect goes a long way.”  
“I don’t have any respect for you or your cult.” Dan angrily retorted. “Especially when you send your goons to break into people’s houses and abduct them.”  
“You weren’t going to come willingly, so what other choice did my goon have but to take you by force?” Mara replied a little too sweetly.


	12. i tried. "you tried?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ralph and charlie find kyle alone & wounded in the house.

Running through the open door behind Ralph, Charlie could already feel a heavy anxiety brewing inside his ribcage. Worse than the one he had felt back at the hospital before he had finally been released earlier that night. He and Ralph had only just got back home when Dan had called in some sort of panic and the two of them were forced to set off again. He had been told that Dan had called the police, but there wasn’t a single checkered panda car parked out on the street; at least, not as of yet. The anxiety got worse when he noticed the damage to various parts of the house apart from the front door itself. Glass strewn about the place, framed posters brought down from their hanging nails and left to lie in a puddle of shattered glass and splintered wood, large black scuff marks against the white-painted walls... The further up the staircase he and his vampire went, the worse it seemed to get, with blood splatters against the bedroom door and the dresser toppled onto one side as the two of them cautiously entered the room. Kyle was the only one to be found inside, sprawled across the wooden floor, blood coming from his nose and a cut on his right forearm.   
“Kyle!” Charlie blurted, running over to his friend and crouching beside him. “Ralph, he’s hurt.” He whined, quickly glancing up at his vampire, who was currently scanning the room for any sign of Dan and, obviously, finding none.  
“Is he breathing?” Frowned Ralph, crouching beside the witch and studying the human’s arm.   
“I’m not sure, let me check.” Replied Charlie, holding a shaky hand to Kyle’s face. There was a moment where he didn’t think there was any sign of life before, suddenly, a soft stream of air caressed his skin and told him that the feeder was, indeed, alive. “Yeah, he’s breathing.”  
“Good,” Ralph nodded, “grab his arm with this and hold it tight. I’ll call an ambulance.” He said, grabbing a previously abandoned t-shirt and throwing it to Charlie. Without a second thought, the witch obeyed and tightly wrapped the shirt around Kyle’s arm and gripped at it with all of his strength while the vampire busied himself with his phone. With his free hand, he pushed back some of Kyle’s dark hair as he worriedly scanned the human’s face for any sign that he might stir awake soon.

“Try getting him to respond to you.” Ralph told him after a short conversation with the operator on the other end of the line.  
“Kyle?” Charlie said softly, using his free hand to gently shake at Kyle’s shoulder. “Kyle, it’s Charlie, can you hear me?” No response. “Kyle, it’s important that you at least open your eyes or something to show me that you can hear me. Please, Kyle, wake up.” Still nothing, and because of this, Charlie desperately looked to Ralph who simply gestured that he should keep trying as he babbled over the phone. “Kyle? Kyle! Please show me that you can hear me!” There was a desperation in the witch’s voice now as the panic for his friend’s wellbeing overtook everything else. “Kyle!”  
Something had seeped through in that moment because the feeder groaned and slowly stirred awake. He was dazed and now wore a confused expression, but he was, most definitely awake and, more importantly, definitely alive.   
“Charlie?” Kyle frowned as he got a glimpse of the witch above him.   
“Oh, thank fuck!” Breathed Charlie, putting a hand to Kyle’s face. “Ralph! He’s awake.”  
“Right, the ambulance is on it’s way.” Nodded the vampire, approaching the two feeders.   
“It’s alright, now, Kyle,” Charlie soothed, offering his friend a smile, “we’re here and the ambulance is coming, okay?”  
“... ‘S’Dan?” Mumbled Kyle, searching into Charlie’s eyes. “Where... Is Dan?” He repeated himself after he didn’t get a response at all, let alone a suitable one.   
“I, uh, I don’t know.” Charlie told him, shaking his head.   
“No, but I have a feeling that I do.” Sighed Ralph. “I think the Bloodline got him.”  
“Pricks.” Weakly scoffed Kyle, frowning because of his deep-seated anger now more than confusion.   
“We’ll get him back.” Ralph confidently told him. “Even if I have to go into the lion’s den and pull him out myself. I promise you.”  
“No, you are not going in there!” Charlie snapped defiantly. As he did so, his magic reacted to his mess of emotions and started manifesting around Kyle’s arm, pulsating slowly as the three colours swirled around Charlie’s pale hand. “I don’t care how we get Dan back, but you are not going in there! Do you hear me?”  
“Baby-“ Ralph began, trying to calmly argue with his feeder.  
“No!” Charlie shouted at him. “We get Dan back using the authorities or some other plan, you are not going to get him yourself!”  
“Gerroff!” Moaned Kyle, trying his hand at yanking his arm away from Charlie’s grip only to fail miserably. “Gerroff me!”  
“Charlie, baby, I’m trying to tell you that your magic’s acting up again.” Ralph told him, pointing at Kyle’s arm. “Let him go.”  
“What?” Charlie blinked before looking down at the hand he had wrapped around the feeder’s arm and allowing for a gasp to escape him. “Shit, Kyle, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He babbled in his panic, immediately letting go of Kyle’s arm and scuttling back and away from him. No, it can’t be acting up here and it definitely can’t act up now. Surely he wasted his energy earlier? Surely there wasn’t enough in Charlie for the magic to continue to act up this way? Why would it even be acting up at all? Shit, no, shit.

Between the wounded feeder and the panicking witch, Ralph didn’t know what to do. He was torn between running straight to his lover and comforting him and checking on Kyle’s wound. His eyes flicked between them a few times before he knelt beside Kyle, checked his wound and, to his surprise, he found that most of it had been healed up. He quickly wrapped it back up and managed to get Kyle to sit up, double-checked that he would be alright then shifted his attention onto Charlie instead.  
“Baby,” he began softly, “Charlie.” He placed a hand against his feeder’s cheek and attempted to get any form of eye contact. Instead he had Charlie pull away from him as if he had been stung.  
“Don’t touch me!” Charlie cried, pulling his knees close to his chest. “Don’t touch me!” He repeated, burying his face into his knees, unable to stop himself as he began to cry from the panic in his body. “I’ll hurt you... Don’t touch me.” He whined.  
“Charlie, listen to me, baby, please.” Ralph ordered softly, making another attempt at touching his witch. “Hey, hey, it’s alright... You didn’t hurt Kyle, you actually fixed him a little bit.” He soothed, allowing the smallest of smiles to etch onto the side of his face as Charlie finally let him make physical contact.  
“No, no, I didn’t. I made him worse.” Charlie argued, furiously shaking his head.  
“Come here.” Sighed Ralph, pulling the witch into his chest and squeezing him tightly. “You didn’t make him worse, you fixed a part of his cut. You, your magic, helped.” Charlie buried his face into Ralph’s chest and released an anguished whine.  
“Stop it! Stop lying to me!” He mumbled into the fabric of the vampire’s jacket.  
“Why would I lie to you?” The vampire soothed, kissing the top of his feeder’s head. “Hey, hey, hush. Breathe.”  
“I made it worse!” Charlie argued some more, pushing at the line.  
“No... You didn’t.” Groaned Kyle, putting his two cents into the argument after gingerly inspecting his arm and finding the same result as Ralph had done. “Your magic... It helped.”


	13. i looked her in the eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> secrets are kept hidden and half-lies are told

“Enough.” Her voice was the only thing that was clear in his swimming mind as he slumped back onto the floor and spat out some of the blood that had seeped into his mouth like a drunkard trying to spit out the last of his vomit. He blinked slowly a few times in a bid to find a focal point other than the self-proclaimed princess but found it much more difficult in practice, especially when there was nothing else in the room adorned in the same vibrancy as she was. Panting some, Dan managed to shuffled himself back enough that he could use the bed as a way of keeping him upright without using too much of his remaining energy then spat a second time. The heftier vampires that towered above him glared at his apparent lack of common courtesy, as if they had forgotten that they were the ones behind this beating and had been ordered to do so by their leader. It was as if they truly believed that she was a princess and that Dan truly was disrespecting her graceful authority. It made a part of him want to laugh, but he managed to swallow it down, along with the remnants of his pride. “Leave us.” Mara’s voice hit his ears again and the two goons immediately did as they were told, and left without much hesitation, slamming the door shut behind them.

“I still don’t fucking like you.” Dan muttered, his head lolling as he tried his hand at looking up at her.  
“I don’t very much like you, either.” She retorted, crouching to his level. “But there we are, we can’t all get along.” Mara’s sickening smile returned to her pale face, giving the younger vampire an urge to retch.  
“Where’s Kyle?” He asked, glaring right into her eyes.  
“First tell me why you chose to bother one of my recruiters.” Mara countered, tilting her head at him.  
“I’m not saying a fucking thing unless I know Kyle is safe.” Dan swung the counter right back at her.  
“He’s at home.” She told him, reaching to touch Dan’s face, only to have him pull away from her. “We left him there.” After a second attempt at touching his face had failed, Mara rose and calmly stepped over to a tiny sink in the corner of the room where a plastic cup sat waiting for her. She picked up the cup, turned the tap and filled it with water before turning the tap off again and returning to Dan. “We only wanted you.” She muttered, crouching before him again, offering him the cup. “It’s water, take it.” She commanded, to which Dan responded by glancing between her and the cup in her hand a few times before, eventually, and cautiously, taking the cup and sipping at it.

“He was scaring kids at the tube station and I’d had enough of it.” He told her, after spitting the now blood-tainted water out. “He kept calling me a brother, when I wasn’t that. He then told me that I was a sympathiser that would be one of the first to die under your new world order, so I told him to get it over with then. To kill me then and there so I’d be one less sympathiser to deal with. Then he beat me up.” With that, he took another sip of water and swallowed it down.  
“I see, so he wasn’t listening to you asking him to quieten down a little?” Mara asked, very clearly feigning interest. She didn’t care for Len, or his dabbling with this boy. What she cared about was the fact this boy was her key to bringing her Ralph back home. That this was the Dan that had taken him from her all that time ago, even after she had turned him and made it clear that he was now a Bloodline vampire and still very much under her control, if not more so than when he was her feeder. She knew that the longer she could keep Dan here, the more likely it was that Ralph would return to her and then she could kill this idiot, and his feeder, and leash her boy.  
“No,” Dan replied, weakly shaking his head at her, “but I don’t think you’re too bothered about a goon of yours, really, are you? No one like you would care about the low-ranking vampires that keep your cult’s numbers up. Not really.” He was, quite rightly, suspicious of the special treatment he had received so far: being taken by force to this place, shackled to a bed and being beaten up for no other reason than the fact that he had refused to kneel before a cult leader he thought was as mad as a box of frogs. 

To be fair to him, she was as mad as a box of frogs; he was just unaware of the fact that she was the nutcase that had treated Ralph so badly and that she was the one who had made him into a vampire in the first place. He was unaware of the fact that she had been the one to send that primal vampire to kill him, only to have her plan foiled by the one man she was trying to get the attention of. He was definitely unaware of the fact that she was the reason why Ralph had struggled with the idea of talking about his past and how he knew so much about such a cult like this one. Most of all, he was unaware of her plan to use him as bait in a trap to force Ralph back into his ‘rightful home’ at the Bloodline Temple and in her arms.

“You’re right,” she sighed, “I don’t care about him.”  
“Then what the fuck do you want me for?” He spat back.  
“You’ll see.” Mara told him quietly.

× × × × × ×

“I-I-It can’t have helped! All I’ve done is hurt Ralph with it!” Charlie stammered, furiously shaking his head at Kyle, who had managed to raise his arm enough so that the witch could see the newly healed half of his wound. “I don’t, I don’t understand!”  
“But it did.” Ralph assured him, placing a hand against his feeder’s face and gently coercing him into making eye contact. “The proof is right there, baby, and thanks to you, Kyle’s going to be alright.”  
“I don’t want this, Ralph! I don’t want magic or the res-responsibility that comes with it! I just want to go home and go to bed!” Charlie whined, fighting with an urge to burst into a second bout of tears.  
“You’re just frightened because you haven’t been trained, that’s all it is.” The vampire attempted, yet again, to soothe his lover, kissing his forehead.  
“I’m scared, Ralph!” The witch gave into his urge and fell into Ralph’s shoulder again.  
“I know, darlin’, I know you are.” Ralph said calmly, squeezing at Charlie’s smaller frame and making a point of showing him as much gentle affection as he could manage in this position. He knew that feeling well, being afraid of this newfound power behind a new identity; he had felt that same fear when he had been turned by Mara all that time ago. He had felt so much fear and anguish and anger at that time before those feelings had grown so much worse after he had finally escaped the Bloodline Temple and went to the authorities for help, only to be thrown into the Hell Hole that was the VTC for six months. “It’s okay.”

“Ralph?” Kyle interrupted his thoughts.  
“Mm?” Hummed the vampire.  
“What will they do to him?” There was fear in the feeder’s voice, now, too because it made an audible cracking noise as he spoke.  
“I don’t know what they even wanted with him in the first place...” A lie so that Kyle wouldn’t worry and so that Charlie wouldn’t have to hear about the vampire’s history with the purist cult. “Whatever it is they want with him, they’ll need him to be alive.”  
“How do you know that?” Kyle argued, pushing and persistent as he crawled over to him and the witch.  
“Because they’re most likely going to try and recruit him for whatever reason.” Ralph continued with his half-lie. “And to do that, they need him alive.”


	14. & smiled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mara finds a way to control dan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. Hate. Mara. (((((:

At some point, the princess had gotten bored of simply looking at Dan and had slipped out of the room, leaving him to climb onto the bed and curl up onto it the way he once used to on his cot at the VTC. His thoughts were back on Kyle; yes, he may have been at home but was he okay? Mara hadn’t specified that she had ordered a killing strike but she also hadn’t attempted to lie and say that Kyle was fine. The vampire brought his knees to his chest and let out a loud, harsh sigh as he fought with an all too familiar feeling that was rising in his ribcage and clinging to his heart like tar. Dan was scared. For the first time in a very long time, he was scared but it wasn’t about his own fate; it was about the fate of his soulmate. What was he going to do should Kyle have been taken out by that goon? Who was he going to cling to after a heavy nightmare about a moment in his past? How was he going to survive without Kyle being in his life at all?  
This place was comparable to his room at the VTC, only it was colder and much more clinical in that place than it was in this dirtied squat of a building. There was also the fact that this place was run by vampires who were either mad, brainwashed or both while the VTC was ran by the government and a psychotic witch coven. A part of the vampire feared that he was going to be brainwashed by this cult and become the kind of creature he hated the most, but he then figured that they would have been much kinder to him if that had been their plan. He tried to remember something Ralph had once said about the cult in passing; ‘they’re all mad, Dan, please don’t fuck with them’. Oh how hindsight had come to haunt him now, smacking him in the face in the exact same way those big vampires had smacked his face.  
“You fuckin’ idiot!” He muttered angrily at himself, staring at a stray spot of blue paint on the wall. Why had he been such a fool as to approach that vampire at the tube station? He then buried his head into the uncovered pillow and released a low whine followed by an angry sort of snarling sound. “I’m sorry, Kyle. I’m sorry; I put you in danger because I couldn’t control my fucking temper. I’m sorry.” The nonsensical babbling had erupted from him now and it was difficult to stop now that he had gotten the ball rolling. This habit, too, was something he had developed back at the VTC, only then he was apologising to his parents over and over again for getting himself into the mess of becoming a vampire and the official pariah of the family. Every time his mother had visited his first words to her had never been ‘hello’ or ‘how are you’, no, it had always been, every week for months, ‘I’m sorry’ followed by a tight hug from her as she tried to soothe his woes. He was thinking about her now, too, and hoped that if she had been here, that she would have held him that closely and that tightly just to comfort her son. He was many things now, but, to her, he was still her little boy and he knew this.  
In this moment, he wanted only two people; Kyle and his mother. No one else, just them. They were the only ones to have ever been able to soothe and comfort him whenever he was afraid or upset or angry and he deeply wished that they were in this stone-walled room with him now that he was being held prisoner by a cult for reasons only they could fathom. He wanted his boyfriend and his mother.

His babbling and his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door being scraped open and the softened footsteps of someone entering the room, but Dan daren’t move. He stayed curled up on the bed, doing his very best to ignore whoever had entered.  
“And to think he left me for a child.” Mara’s voice cut through the silence. She had returned to gawp at him. “You are a grown man, for the love of Christ.” She tutted, shaking her head as Dan sat up and turned to face her. In her hand she held a velvety sort of blue box with a silver fastening at its centre and that box was all the male could focus on.  
“I’d ask if you’re going to let me go, but that box tells me otherwise.” He snipped.  
“Why would I let you go? I need you to bring him back.” Mara shook her head, laughing as if he had said the most ridiculous sentence to have ever been uttered.  
“Mind telling me who He is, exactly?” Dan sniffed, leaning back against the headrest of the bed as the princess sat, placed the box down and opened it. “And why I’m the one who’s going to bring him back?”  
“Ralph.” Mara said simply, pulling a collar out of the box and setting it down in front of him. “Now you will put this on for me or I’ll have Nim do it for you.”  
“Why?” Dan asked, glaring back at her.  
“That way we have some sort of control over you while you stay here with us.” She elaborated, glancing between him and the collar. The blue leather collar sat on the bed, staring up at the male vampire who shook his head at it.  
“No.” He argued, withdrawing further into himself defensively. Something about the collar screamed that there was some form of magic involved and he did not like the idea of messing with a witch’s magical torture device.  
“Put it on voluntarily or have it put on by force. Those are your only options.” Mara told him. “Or, alternatively, you can stay in here, shackled to the bed. Your choice.” With a heavy sigh, Dan took up the collar and put it on, being sure that he could still breathe and move his head comfortably once he had fastened it. Immediately, Mara broke into a wide smile. “Good boy!” She chirped, putting her hands back into the box to pull out a small reused jam jar full of a blue substance and a paintbrush. Uncomfortable with the idea of being praised in that way by her, Dan shifted a little and sniffed, hard. “Hand.” She ordered, as if he were a dog. For some reason, he was compelled into giving her his hand without much hesitation and he frowned, confused by this. “Oh you are such a good boy, aren’t you? Hm? It normally takes a little while before the magic starts working properly.”  
“There’s a mind control spell on this thing isn’t there?” Dan sniped, watching as Mara opened the jar, dipped the paintbrush into it then took his hand and began painting a peculiar sort of pattern on the back of it and down his wrist.  
“A mild one, yes.” She nodded, pulling back to admire her handy work when she was done painting Dan’s hand. “Only so that you don’t try an escape attempt. I can call you from a good distance and you’ll come scampering back to me like a puppy.” A bright, amused smile cracked across her face. “It’s going to make damn sure that you stay here with me until Ralph comes home.”  
“And then what?” Asked the male vampire, bringing his hand up so that he could inspect the patterning the princess had just painted onto his hands.  
“That’s to tell the others that you are mine.” She expertly avoided his question, putting the jar and the brush back into the box and snapping it shut. “They won’t touch you unless I tell them to.”  
“I didn’t ask about the paint, I asked about what happens when Ralph comes here.” Dan snipped.  
“Never you mind, nosey.” Giggled the mad vampire, focusing her attention on the shackle that had been clamped around Dan’s ankle. She produced a small key from somewhere on her person and freed the younger vampire from his tether, allowing the chain to clank noisily onto the floor as she got up and grabbed the box. “Now, follow me.”


	15. my girl, you must understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dan is forced into submission while an unexpected visitor drops by charlie & ralph's place.

Suddenly compelled by the command to follow and feeling totally uncomfortable with the whole ordeal, Dan did as he was told and followed the female vampire out of the tiny cell room and then down a flight of rickety old stairs to the main entrance of the Bloodline cult’s squat. Blue graffiti was everywhere, marking the walls with the cryptic symbols and almost illegible scriptures that members of the cult were all too familiar with. Most of the building seemed to be lit by either candlelight or blue fairy lights strung up about the place as if the inhabitants had simply forgotten to take down their Christmas decorations and there was an intense atmosphere in the air that made it hard to breathe without wanting to shudder or vomit from the pressure of it all. Dan’s eyes darted about the place, scanning the vampires and the rooms they passed in an attempt gain a good feel of who and what he was dealing with. He caught glimpses of feeders, all wearing similar collars to his own, nestled and snuggled up to their vampires as if they were truly in the same boat as he and Kyle or Ralph and Charlie were, when, in truth, they were not. They had been put under some form of control to make them feel those things and do those things and whisper sweet little sentences to the vampires that so clearly owned them in this hell hole.  
“This is like walking into a horror film.” He muttered as Mara lead him into a large, windowless drawing room and came to a halt at some kind of altar at one end of it.  
“Don’t be rude.” Mara scolded him, moving to the altar and busying herself by placing the box down onto it and fiddling with a few candles. “This is your home now, at least until Ralph comes back to me. Be more appreciative.”  
“This isn’t my home.” Dan snipped, to which he got a glare in response. Without even flinching, the male vampire glared right back as she turned and carefully stepped toward him. Mara halted just inches away from him looked him up and down then pursed her lips.  
“Kneel.” She commanded. His mind fought against the order, but his body failed him and obeyed, forcing Dan onto his knees before the cult leader. Clenching his jaw, he looked up at her with an angry sort of stare, the rage felt towards her glinting in his blue eyes. Suddenly, he felt a sharp smack against the side of his face and, due to the shock of it, winced. “Disrespect me again and I will do worse than smack you.” Mara almost gleefully informed him, a glitter of something that resembled excitement in her eyes. “Apologise.”  
“I’m sorry.” The words fell out of him like vomit and made it feel as though he had actually thrown up.  
“Good boy.” She praised, stroking a hand against his cheek, making every muscle in Dan’s back tense. “I’m going to give you some rules, now. You disobey any of them and I will punish you.” A stern tone overcame her as she locked eyes with him. “First, you will address me by my proper title and treat me as the royal I am. For example, when I give you a command, you will reply: yes, princess. Second, you will not leave my side and will stay within my line of sight and, or earshot at all times. Third, and finally, you will not make any attempt at escape or to contact any of your friends – and yes, that includes the dog and the tiny witch. Do you understand?” At that, she took hold of Dan’s face and leaned in close. “Answer me, properly.” She hissed.  
Dan grimaced. “Yes,” a pause that encouraged a warning glare from Mara and the urge to vomit again within the male vampire, “princess.”  
“There’s a good boy.” Beamed the female, releasing her grip before giving the very uncomfortable male a kiss on the cheek. “You’re learning fast.”

× × × × × ×

With Kyle being kept safe at the hospital and after spending a good portion of the early morning speaking to the police, Ralph and Charlie had finally managed to return home and find themselves cuddled on their bed. The witch was snuggled closely into the vampire, gripping tightly at his shirt and burying his face into his chest. It felt good to be home but Charlie was still shaken to the core by his magic, vibrating with the fear he had about himself, and both he and Ralph were worried about their friend who was currently being held prisoner by an ungodly, dangerous cult. A cult Ralph knew all too well, but still hadn’t found the courage to tell Charlie about that side of his past. Not yet and he daren’t do so now, while his lover was frightened and confused by his own supernatural affliction. It wouldn’t be fair to him to do that; drop that bombshell.  
“I’m sorry I shouted at you, earlier.” Charlie whispered, sounding like a frightened child as his grip on Ralph’s shirt tightened. “I just... I just didn’t want to hurt you with my magic. I didn’t want to make things worse. I didn’t-“  
“It’s alright, baby.” Ralph stopped him in his tracks before the anxiety took hold of his lover again and caused him to completely lose his composure by quietly soothing him and placing a soft, sweet kiss at the top of his head. “You were scared, that’s all.” He added a tight squeeze just for good measure; just to make it plain to the witch that he would always be there for him and that he would always protect him from whatever danger that would attempt to rear its ugly head in their direction. “I completely understand.”  
“I love you.” Sighed Charlie, trying his hardest to force his body closer to the vampire’s.  
“I love you, too.” Ralph allowed himself a crack of a smile at that. There would never be anyone else that he could love this much, with so much genuine feeling as he did Charlie Barnes. He was abused into loving Mara and, even then, he didn’t love her. He thought he had loved Dan but neither of them had been happy unless it involved sex and Ralph knew that it was because of him turning the other vampire more than it was anything else that been swirling around them at the time. Charlie, however? He truly, deeply loved Charlie and he would walk through fire just to keep his witch safe from harm. He would do so, gladly, because it meant that his true soulmate was going to be safe and keeping him safe meant keeping him happy. Or, at least, relatively so, given the recent circumstances.

At some point during their time together, the vampire had been told about Charlie’s previous relationship and why it had made him so hesitant to move from simply being his feeder to being lovers. Charlie had lost that previous person to a car accident and it had torn him apart. It had cut him deeply and he had been genuinely afraid of moving on because he felt as if he had been at fault for the accident occurring at all. From what Ralph understood, Charlie had asked Ed to come over because he was suffering with a bout of anxiety that he could not shake off and only Ed could heal at the time; Ed was around halfway to Charlie’s home at the time before his car had collided with a bus and it had been an hour before the witch had been told about it by Ed’s mother. By the time Charlie had arrived at the hospital, Ed had died and the witch’s heart was shattered by the loss and unexplained guilt he had felt.  
What Ralph did not know was that Ed had been haunting the witch this whole time, making sure that he was loved and that he was happy. That was, of course, when he was able to hide himself from both of them. Ed was stood at the bedroom door and, thankfully, the magic wasn’t reaching far enough to affect his ability to hide himself, watching them both as he usually did but instead of having the usual expression of grateful happiness for the two of them, he wore an expression of concern.

The ghost chewed at his lower lip and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before he decided to risk it and step into the bedroom, despite his fear of the vampire that was currently comforting Charlie. Unfortunately, this meant that the magic was forcing him to show himself despite Ed not wanting to do so just yet and that only made his anxiety worse when he accidentally made eye contact with Ralph.  
“Charlie.” The vampire mumbled, not daring to look away from the glitching ghost at the end of the bed. “Baby, we have an unexpected visitor.” At this statement, Charlie frowned, looked up at the vampire then followed his line of sight to find the ghost.  
“Ed?” A gasp escaped him as he forced himself upright and scuttled to the end of the bed. “What are you doing here?”


	16. that fear is not some product that I made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ed nervously blurts out some sensitive information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is dead short but idk, there's a lot more dan + mara to come in the next section

“I, uh, I’ve always been here.” Ed stumbled, wincing as he struggled with the magic that was making him glitch uncontrollably. “Well, uhm, always with you, anyway.” He corrected himself, tensing and pulling the large, navy blue trench coat closer to his person.  
“He means he’s haunting you.” Ralph elaborated when Charlie frowned with confusion at the answer he was given. “You were the last person he must have spoken to before he died.”  
“Yeah,” nodded Ed feverishly, finally deciding that he was done fighting the magic and allowing himself to be seen, “before I got into the car, I was on the phone with you... So that means that I’m... Oh shit, what did Roman say it was? Tied? No, no, uhm, tethered to you.” His features creased into a frustrated sort of frown as he tried to remember what his guide to the afterlife had told him. “Until either I move on, as it were, or you die.”  
“So, all this time, you’ve been following me around?” Charlie’s eyes were wide and sort of sad as he scanned over his former lover’s ghost. “You saw me...?” Before he could finish his sentence, he felt Ralph’s hand squeeze at his own and the thumping in his chest quietened somewhat.  
“Grieve?” Ed suggested as a final word. “Yeah... I’m glad you found him though. Ralph, I mean. He makes you happy and, I s’pose, that makes me happy, too.” A soft sort of smile twitched at the side of his face which was returned by the witch’s own sort of small crack of a smile. “He’s not too hard on the eyes, either.” A nervous laugh escaped the ghost as he said that before the immediate sense of regret took hold and forced him to look at the floor.  
“Thank you.” Laughed the vampire, allowing for Charlie to gently lean against him. “I’m glad you approve. Some ghosts can get a bit angry when their last love moves on to someone else.”  
“I know.” Nodded Ed. “They expect too much of the living, y’know? I met a ghost from the flat next door and all she does is complain about the fact that her brother doesn’t visit her grave. She died last Tuesday and her funeral was only yesterday... Give the guy a break.”  
"Oh wow, I didn't realise that ghosts still had to deal with so much drama." Snorted Ralph, shaking his head some.  
"That's just the undead drama. We see all of the living stuff, too." Ed sighed. "Well, most of it. Witches and werewolves get a lot of privacy." He shrugged, releasing another nervous laugh, running a hand through his hair.

“Aside from being, y’know, uhm, a ghost...” Charlie mumbled, feeling an intense need to bring the conversation back on track. “Are you okay?”  
"I'm alright... Worried about you and some of your friends, mostly." Admitted the ghost, locking eyes with the small witch and unwittingly allowing for his expression to twitch between an attempt at keeping the smile and showing his concern. "Particularly the angry vampire... What's his name? D-Dan?"  
"He's been taken by a cult and we're not entirely sure what to do." Charlie frowned, nodding slowly, releasing a heavy sort of sigh. "The police are involved now, but we don't know anything."  
"Ralph knows how to get to them." Ed blurted, pointing at the vampire to which he was given a hard, angry stare for his efforts.  
"What?" Frowned the witch, straightening himself up and trying his hardest to make eye contact with Ralph.  
"Sorry... I'm sorry, I thought you'd told him!" At that point, Ed started glitching again as his instinctive need to hide away came barreling into his mind and took over his spiritual form. "Ah, shit! I'm really, really s-sorry!" He whined, wincing as the discomfort of the glitching overcame him.  
"What does he mean?" Charlie demanded, pulling Ralph's face to him and using his eyes to beg the vampire for some kind of answer. A straight one, a lie, anything. He just wanted for Ralph to speak, instead of glaring ominously at the glitching ghost.  
"I... I didn't want to tell you..." Began Ralph, frowning some and doing his best to avoid looking the witch directly in the eyes. "I didn't want to worry you or scare you... I don't know. I probably should have said something earlier." A sad, heavy sigh escaped him. This was how he was going to do this? Was he really forced to tell Charlie everything because the ghost ex-lover had accidentally outed something about his past? Apparently so and an anxiety rose inside his chest as flashes of things from his time at the cult seared into his brain. "I used to be the leader's feeder. Bloodline's leader, I mean... Then she turned me and tried to keep me there with her. I ran away from them and I don't think she was too happy about my leaving... Especially since Dan was the one who sort of helped me escape."  
Charlie's eyes widened. "So... That's how you know so much about them?" He babbled, searching into the vampire's eyes. It wasn't much of a reaction but, then again, what was Ralph supposed to expect of his feeder? A dramatic gasp? Some form of denial? A sadness of sorts? Alright, so there was a hint of concerned sadness in Charlie's eyes but the vampire couldn't tell if it was because of what he'd said or the fact that he'd kept it from him for so long.  
"Yeah," he nodded, pulling away from the witch, ashamed of himself, "it's also how I know where their base is and the reason why Mara had her goons take Dan."  
"Who's Mara?" Frowned Charlie. "The Superior Bloodline leader?"  
"That's her... She refers to herself as a Princess." Scoffed the vampire, sucking at his teeth as he got off the bed and slowly wandered away from the witch. The shame he felt for not talking to his feeder about this earlier was what was driving him away and it made his stomach churn uncomfortably. Still confused and growing more concerned by the way his vampire was acting, Charlie pushed himself off the bed and pawed over to Ralph, approaching with some caution and placing a gentle hand against his arm. Stiff and shameful, Ralph slowly recoiled and stepped aside.  
"Ralph...?" Began the witch.  
"I'm sorry, Ralph! I honestly thought you had told him!" Ed babbled from the other end of the room. "I heard you talking about her with someone on the phone."  
"It's fine, Ed, please don't worry, alright?" Ralph insisted. "I should have sat down and talked to Charlie about it long before now, anyway. I don't know... I was scared?" At this confession of fear, the witch blinked and made a sort of whimpering noise. Ralph was never afraid. Ralph was quiet, cool, calm, collected. He was stoic and strong in the face of harsh weather.  
"But... Why?" Charlie asked, managing to take a loose grip of one of the vampire's forefingers. "Why were you scared of telling me?"  
"I wasn't scared of telling you... I was scared of your reaction." Admitted the vampire with a sigh, running his free hand through is hair. "And the idea of having those memories come flooding back into my head... Of what she did to me the entire time I was there. I don't know?" He clenched his jaw and looked, apologetically, at his feeder, fighting hard with his emotional state. "I'm sorry."  
"Oh, Ralph." Sighed the witch, moving in close and placing a soft kiss against the vampire's cheek.


	17. it crept unwelcome in my head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dan learns the hard way that mara is definitely not to be fucked with

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: abuse // violence

Pulling back, pleased with Dan’s response, Mara straightened herself up and beamed brightly at him. “Stay.” She commanded, holding a finger up before turning her back on him and making her way back to the altar, fiddling with a few things on the rickety table that had been draped with a sheer blue curtain. From his spot on the floor, and whilst fighting with an attempt at making himself comfortable and the magic forcing him to obey Mara, Dan watched as the female vampire went through some sort of ritualistic motion; lighting candles and adjusting some of the silver objects that glittered under the blue fairy lights. A part of him wanted to ask what she was doing but something else was bothering him. This was the Mara that Ralph had escaped all those years ago? This was the woman that had held so tightly onto him that he damn near lost his mind from the fear he had of her, alone? Maybe it was the fact that Dan hadn’t seen her in one of the rages Ralph had once described, but even despite her madness, Mara didn’t seem like anything anyone could see as a fear. She looked as if you could blow on her and she’d topple over. She acted like a mad child, yes, but there was a doubt growing about her overall strength. There had to be a reason why she had guards deal with the physicality of things for her, right? A light frown creased his features as he struggled with the incoming of thoughts and the half-memories of things Ralph had told him about Mara over time.  
“Why do you want Ralph back so badly?” The question was thrown up and out of him. “Why can’t you replace him or something?” He had touched a nerve there, because the thunderous expression on Mara’s face sent a shiver of fear through him. Ah, so that’s what his friend and former lover had been so terrified of. Her authority, her control, her dictatorship.  
“Why is it any business of yours?” She snipped, returning to him now that she had finished with her ritual. “Up.” The order was immediately obeyed, making Dan’s stomach churn again. It was such an unnatural feeling to do as she told him and the magic was not helping his adverse reaction at all. It made him feel like he’d downed a bottle of milk that was way passed it’s use by date but, like a horse, could not throw up.  
“I’m just curious.” He replied, calmly looking her dead in the eyes. “Why not replace Ralph after years of not having him a part of this cult anymore? Why did you make the point of following him to London? Why do you want him back so badly? Why do you need me as part of a plan to get him back?”

Finding herself in a vulnerable position now, Mara shifted uncomfortably and made a point of looking away from the male vampire. She couldn’t tell this insolent little shit that the reason she was so desperate for Ralph to come home to her was because he was the only one that had ever been in the cult at all she’d loved; and actually loved. She couldn’t drop her facade as a leader, as an authoritarian, as the symbol of monarchy within her cult’s belief to tell this fucker that she wanted Ralph back with her because she was in love with him and heartbroken by the fact that he had left. Of course, she didn’t understand why he had left at all, given the fact that, to her, the possessive behaviour and abuse toward him were the closest things that she understood to being affection and love because that was what her parents had given her and, later, when she was a young, pretty little thing at sixteen and sold to the previous leader of the cult, the king, Thomas had given her. As far as she was concerned, she was showing Ralph love and it deeply hurt her that he had run into the arms of this particular male that stood before her, squaring his shoulders and making it clear that he would fight should he have to. It was why she had ordered for him to be killed until Ralph had turned up and turned this idiot into a vampire, too. It was why she had followed them all the way here, to London, the furthest place away from home she could ever possibly go. She was still suffering from the sickness that was love and she had contracted it the second Ralph had been brought to her door by his father and given to her as a feeder as payment for the debts he owed the cult. She wanted Ralph back because she wanted to feel safe, cuddled against his warmth and tracing patterns into his skin. She wanted him back because she couldn’t love anyone else in the same way. She had tried replacing him, but none of the imbeciles she had used to do so had Ralph’s humour, his intelligence, his softness, his warmth. They were not Ralph and that was who her heart wanted but with Dan, and now the tiny witch in the way, it was getting increasingly difficult to get the prize. However her plan so far was working; she had Dan, she was going to bait Ralph and his tiny witch into coming to the house, she was going to lock up the witch and take back her man. Her man.  
“All you need to know is that I need Ralph back home, where he belongs, and you’re one of the keys that allows me to bring him home.” Mara said, straightening herself up and finding her way back to the blue eyes that were so coldly staring her down. “The reasons are none of your business.”  
“Given the fact that I know what you did to him before and that you were the one that sent that vampire to kill me the day Ralph turned me, I kind of need to know the reasons.” Dan argued, the lack of blood really playing with his rational ability to think. “I want to know why he’s that fucking important to you.”  
“Quiet!” Roared the female, smacking the male, hard, across the face, sending him reeling to one side. His cheek stung to fuck but because of the magical mind control object around his neck, Dan couldn’t cry out in pain. He had hissed out a breath and winced but he could do no more than that; her order had forced him silent. When he had regained his balance and found himself glaring at her whilst breathing deeply and holding a hand to one side of his face, he was momentarily lost to a memory of that night one November when Ralph had come stumbling into his dorm room at halls and fallen into his shoulder to sob his heart out. He remembered the all too serious retort the other vampire had given when Dan had promised that the cult wouldn’t hurt him anymore. They’ll kill you. He’d been told, and they had tried but Dan still hadn’t believed that until this moment, years later, when he and Ralph were no more than friends, and Mara herself was stood before him, engulfed by her own rage. Looking at the fire in her eyes, the hatred, the pure anger; all he could do was worry about his own demise and feel his heart sink to his feet as he thought of Ralph having felt that same worry. His heart broke for his friend the way it had done the night they had first become lovers and it physically pained his entire being to know that this was the woman who had once destroyed Ralph.

Mara tapped forward, her heeled shoes making echoes within the mostly empty room, making Dan shuffle back. He feared her next move would be another hard smack, or worse, and so did not want to give her the perfect target; nor did he want to give her the perfect excuse. She, in response stared him down. “Be still.” The command brought that stomach churning sensation back and Dan was forced, once again, into obedience by coming to an unsteady halt a few feet away from her. A gap, Mara was very quick to make smaller by striding toward him and grabbing at his face again; tighter this time that she had done earlier, making the urge to squirm barrel around within him as it tried to fight the magic’s forceful hand. “What did I tell you about disrespecting me? Hm?” The question was very clearly rhetorical. “Questioning my authority? Questioning my plans for you? That is disrespecting me. What do you have to say for yourself? Speak!”  
“I-I’m sorry, princess.” Struggled the male, silently pleading with her to let him move again as well as speak.  
“An apology isn’t enough.” Another smack cracked against Dan’s cheek, adding to the sting of the first by giving him three claw marks against the skin and that, in turn, made him release a loud, pained moan. “Under this roof my word is law. In this group, my word is law. You question me, you question my laws and as I told you, I will give you a worse punishment than being shackled to a piss-ridden bed for the rest of your life.” Another clawed smack, digging into the first lot of scratches and making the male vampire whine and whimper from the pain. “Follow me to the altar then get on your knees.”  
“Yes, fuck, ah, yes princess.” Rambled Dan, grateful that he had been given his ability to move again as she lead him close to the altar and stopped. As soon as she stopped, the magic forced him onto his knees and he found himself fearfully looking up at her. She wasn’t just a loopy child after all, it seemed. No, she was a force to be reckoned with and Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Especially not this woman. This psychotic woman. 

His eyes followed one of her hands as it hovered over some sort of ceremonial knife and, almost immediately, they widened at the image. She wouldn’t, would she? A quick summary of her past and what she had just done told him that she would but the bitterly sweet smile on her face followed by the mad sort of cackle that erupted out of her told him otherwise.  
“Promise me you’ll behave.” She commanded, gently placing a hand against his other cheek and stroking a thumb against the skin. “Promise me that you’ll behave for me and I will not punish you this time. Not properly, at least.”  
“I promise, princess.” He whimpered, breathing a shaky sigh of relief when it had been confirmed that she would not be slicing into him with the silver blade on the table. “I will behave, I promise.”  
“There’s a good boy, now, up so that I can reach your face.” She commanded, to which his body was far too quick to obey. “That’s it, sweetheart, very good, much better.” The smile on her face made him want to gag but he managed to swallow down the urge. “That’ll heal soon enough, probably once you’ve fed.”  
“Can’t feed without Kyle.” Dan mumbled, his expression sad as his mind wandered back to his lover and his potential outcomes. “Please, princess, is he alright at least? I have to know, please.” He pleaded, tears stinging his eyes as his concern for Kyle rose and the anxiety in his chest gripped at something within the ribcage. “I can’t be without him... Please!” At that last attempt at begging, a few tears betrayed him and streaked down the side of his face, salt water stinging at the cuts against his cheek.   
“Hush, darling, sh-sh-sh,” Mara soothed, frowning some as she wiped at the tears, “it’s alright, he’ll be fine, I’m sure... He’s very strong and we left him with nothing more than a cut your witch friend could fix. Don’t get upset, hm? I know you’re worried for him and that you miss him but he’ll be fine.” She couldn’t help but empathise with his desperation, which was a very sudden and odd feeling for her to have had so quickly after a fit of rage... But she felt his pain. He wanted his lover to be safe and alive and to be with him. He was frightened for his lover and wanted to be in his arms and no one else’s... These same things she felt toward Ralph and they made her empathise with the snivelling, frightened little boy before her. “I’ll tell you what,” she said, sounding like a mother trying to cheer up her child, “we’ll steady your mood with something to eat, first, and I’ll see what I can do to make sure that, uhm, Kyle, was it? Kyle is alright. I just need to do one more quick thing before that, though, alright?”  
Dan daren’t answer verbally, and instead only nodded.  
“Alright, good boy.” She smiled, kissing his forehead. “I’m sorry I got so cross with you, but I had said not to answer me back or question me. You know now, don’t you?” The fear within him rose the more she spoke like this; so soothing and calm as she turned her back on him and fiddled around with the box from earlier and found the jar of paint again, this time holding a somewhat larger brush. She unscrewed the top of the jam jar and dabbed the brush into it, scraping most of the excess against the rim of the jar. “Close your eyes.” There was still an urge within him to fight the magic but, again, the magic overruled his body and Dan was forced to obey. With that, Mara gently dragged the brush across his face a few times then put everything away again. “For now, this means you are a member of the Superior Bloodline and, until Ralph comes home, you are mine. No one but me will touch you and as far as they’re concerned, you are my new Favourite. The others will treat you with some respect but none of this is truly official, so you don’t need to worry about anything but pretending and doing as you are told, alright?” A sigh left her. “Open your eyes, sweetheart.” Dan blinked a few times and found himself staring right at her. “The Stripe matches your eyes...” She smiled, making the muscles in his back tense. “It suits you.”


	18. the day they had her torn away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> will picks up woody from the Changing Rooms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is short and shit but hey, I managed a thing, yay!!!

Slimy saliva slid down the creature’s teeth, getting caught in the little fur it had around it’s maw as it huffed then snarled; the images clipped and fast as he watched himself struggle to scurry away from it. The eyes were wild, yellowing at the edges and angry and it’s movements were fast. Impossibly fast. Another clipped image and there was a close up of the giant canine’s teeth sunk into his leg followed immediately by the echoed, warped sound of his own screaming.  
“Shit!” Breathed Woody, snapping back into reality as he bolted upright in the middle of his Changing Room. It took him a second to realise that he’d simply experienced his monthly nightmare but once he had, he immediately put his head into his hands and released a loud groan. Had he not been seeing that dream once a month, every month, since he’d been bitten, he would have supposed that this particular Changing Room not being his usual one had thrown him off-guard and he spent another good minute arguing with himself on the subject until he heard the loud clank of a metal door being opened and the shuffling of footsteps. The noises were accompanied by two separate scents; one he immediately recognised as Will’s and the other belonging to the security guard that helped run the Changing Rooms. "How was your night?" Will was the first to break the silence, because the human beside him sure as Hell wasn't going to say a damn word in front of two different supernatural beings; especially one who had just had woken up from an incredibly rough night. "Exhausting." Woody replied, looking up at the vampire. "Did you have to come in just as I woke up? I'm not even dressed, mate." "I've seen you naked before, remember." Will replied, trying hard not to crack into a laugh and catching an odd sort of look from the guard beside him. "We're in a band, we tour a lot, he and another bandmate of ours have a bad habit of forgetting that they have to share the bus with other people." He explained, briefly giving the human his full attention. "... Right." Nodded the human, shifting uncomfortably. Admittedly, his discomfort had cheered Woody up somewhat and he managed to share an amused sort of grin with the vampire before he forced himself upright. At this point, the guard awkwardly shoved a folded pile of clothes toward him and, blinking, slightly bewildered, the werewolf took the clothes and started putting himself together. "Did you check on Chrissy? And the pups?" Woody's faint panic was clear against the vampire's ears and he slowly raised a hand to show the werewolf that he needed to stay calm. "I did. Chrissy is fine, as are the pups." Nodded the vampire, his entire demeanour radiating calmness which, in turn, managed to quell the werewolf's anxiety. "Awuoi called her to see if she was alright then sent me a text while I was on my way down here... Don't worry." He elaborated, making Woody breathe a quiet sigh of relief. "Thanks, mate." He mumbled, yanking a plain grey shirt over his head. "I appreciate you both doing that for me." "We're friends, Wood, I'd do it even if you hadn't asked me to." Will replied, offering him a reassuring smile. "Right, both of you need to leave. Now." Snipped the guard, using his head to gesture at the metal door at the other end of the room. Woody adjusted the collar around his neck somewhat then followed Will out of the cell-like room.

× × × × ×

"I'm fucking starving, any chance we can stop somewhere?" Woody muttered as he and the vampire beside him shuffled around people on a relatively quiet street.  
"There's a café just up there?" Will suggested, pointing in the vague direction of said café, making a face. "Or we can go straight to the hospital to see how Kyle's doing and get you something from the shop there?"  
"Mm, I don't fancy sitting in there being glared at while I eat, so yeah... Let's go find Kyle." Woody agreed, nodding some. "How is he, anyway?"  
"Worried about Dan, obviously, and still a bit shaken up, but he'll be fine." Replied the vampire, a worried sort of frown making an appearance across his face.  
"We're all worried about Dan." Sighed the werewolf, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Have you spoken to Ralph?"  
"Not yet," Will said, shaking his head, "I've sent him updates on Kyle, as per his request, but I haven't heard anything back in nearly a week now... I'm getting worried about him... And Charlie. I hope they're alright."  
"To be fair, on top of the Dan situation, they've been trying to deal with the Charlie is a witch situation. Poor guy was freaking out about his magic according to Kyle, last time I spoke to him." Woody countered glancing over both sides of the road before making to cross, with the vampire following close behind. "I can only imagine what he's going through right now."  
Will frowned, somewhat confused. "Charlie or Ralph?"  
"Well, uh, both, I s'pose." Woody shrugged. "But I was on about Charlie more than Ralph."  
"Ah, I see." Nodded the vampire. "He'll be fine once he learns to control his magic, I think. Ralph, meanwhile... I'm not entirely sure how well he's coping with everything right now."  
"Not that he'd say a damn word about what's going on his head." Sighed the werewolf, following a line that lead to a tube station.  
"True," Will agreed, "but he can't keep holding it all in."  
"If he wants to tell us what's going on, he will." Woody said, glancing over the vampire with some resemblance of reassurance. "We just have to give him some space to try and figure out what the fuck is going on."  
"You're right; when he's ready, he'll talk to us." Nodded the vampire, returning his friend's reassuring expression with a faint sort of smile.


	19. it changed me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ed is a ghostly spy

Appearing in the corner of a pretty sort of room, Ed licked at his lower lip thoughtfully and scanned the area around him. He had agreed, after some debate and quite a lot of convincing on Ralph’s part, to act as a spy for him and Charlie within the heart of a lion’s den: the Bloodline headquarters. What didn’t help was the idea that the witch girl that was helping Charlie connect and communicate with him through beaten up, wooden ouija board and had also been insistent that the whole Double-O Spook thing would work the best when trying to find and make sure that Dan was okay. It had been a week since he had been taken and the living members of this supernatural team were confident, possibly overly so, that their plans were going to work without a hitch. Their reasoning for this was that Ed could hide himself from vampires, no matter how old or experienced, and it was the safest option for everyone... Well, everyone but Ed. What if Mara kept a witch in the house? What was supposed to happen should his cover be blown? For that, he hadn’t been given an answer. Instead, he had been given a pep talk from the more dominant males in the room; Ralph, Woody and Will and thrown into the path of some crazy vampire cult leader. It didn’t sit easy with him that he was so easily won over by a small speech made by Charlie’s lover and their friends, and a part of him wondered that if he had been a vampire, would he have been as easily consumed by Mara as some of these others were?  
“Okay, I’m here...” He mumbled, frowning somewhat at the excess of blue drapes being used as decorative accents above the large bed that lay directly ahead of him before his eyes settled on the two bodies that were lying on it. _What do you see?_ The question burned into his mind as Charlie’s voice came through the ether. “A guy and a girl lying on a bed in this weirdly decorated room. It’s like one of the rooms from Buckingham Palace got refurbished badly with the decorator only being given blue as a colour scheme.” The ghost replied, not knowing that only Sophie would get his sarcastic little snip in full while the board would reply ‘male and female, bed, blue’. _Is one of them Dan?_ Ralph’s voice swam through his head this time and made him frown. “Let me get closer.” Ed told the line, taking a few steps toward the bed craning his neck so that he could get a good look of the male figure. He was asleep, cute – just as the picture he had been shown of Dan had been – but something was off. There was a sincere lack of hair and a blue painted stripe across his face. “I’m not sure but... I think one of them is Dan, yeah.” _What makes you unsure?_ Sophie’s voice came through now. “He doesn’t look like the same as he does in the picture Ralph showed me.” Ed told her. “He’s got a skinhead.” _Skinhead?_ Sophie’s voice came through again, sounding somewhat amused. “Yes, a skinhead.” The frustration etched into the ghost’s voice probably showed in the form of the ouija’s planchette shuddering angrily on the other end of the line. _Is the woman Mara?_ Ralph’s voice swam again, sounding deadly serious. The ghost squinted at the woman, who was also asleep, beside Dan and tried to connect her features to the one image Ralph had shown him of the vampire princess. It took him a good few minutes before he concluded that this was, indeed, the Bloodline leader. “Yeah.” _What are they doing?_ Charlie came through again, giving Ed a deep sense of relief. “Sleeping.”

Just as he had communicated the word to the others, however, the male vampire hummed sleepily a few times and turned over before slowly opening his eyes. If Ed hadn’t known better, and known that Dan currently couldn’t see him, he would have sworn that Dan was looking straight at him and that mild anxiety that bubbled around within him made the ghost jump back in fright.  
“Dan’s awake!” He hissed to the sketchy line. “Dan just woke up!” _Don’t panic! He can’t see you, right?_ Sophie assured him, reminding Ed again that the vampire in front of him was totally oblivious to his presence. _Just watch him for a bit, see what happens._ Ralph’s voice ordered. “Uhm, okay.” Ed nodded, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and moving to the wall so that he was out of the way. Meanwhile, Dan sniffed and stretched, allowing for a happy little groan escape him before he turned to find that it was Mara beside him and not Kyle, as he had expected. In response, he made a sort of whining noise and sighed.

What the vampire wanted was to be back with Kyle, in their bed, cuddled up into his feeder and far away from Mara and her kin... But here he was, stuck with a lunatic that was obsessed with his friend and having control. It had been a week and he was already sick of it, so how Ralph had managed years of it genuinely blew Dan’s mind. He wondered if it was to do with the idea that Mara could properly hypnotise Ralph and completely wipe his mind of anything but loyalty and obedience to her, as well as the general brainwashing schtick that this cult – and many others – seemed to operate. When his head started aching due to the slew of thoughts that raced through his brain, the vampire concluded that this had to be the case and left it at that. Moving slowly, carefully, he sat himself up and flicked a light on, allowing for one of his hands to rub at the side of his face. He needed a shave... He needed a feed... He needed to leave... He needed Kyle. A stirring beside him interrupted this new train of thought and told him that Mara was slowly waking up, causing an involuntary feeling of fear to take hold of his entire being.  
“... Dan?” She hummed, pushing back some of her long, dark hair to properly reveal her bright, frighteningly green eyes. “Are you alright, sweetheart?”  
“’M fine, princess.” He lied, that last word still making him want to gag as it left him. “Just a bad dream.” Without warning, she responded to his lie by snuggling closer to him and resting her head against his stomach, accidentally reminding him of Kyle as she did so, and wrapped one of her arms around his waist.  
“It’s alright.” Mara soothed. “They can’t hurt you, anymore.” She was referring to his dreams about the VTC that he had only mentioned to her once before since he had arrived at this squat; the second night but his first having to sleep beside her on this bed. “I won’t let them hurt my vampires.”  
“I know they can’t...” Dan replied quietly, trying not to tense at the feeling of her being so close to his body.  
“You’re safe here with me.” Smiled the princess, squeezing at him some before moving again and deciding to kiss his cheek. He responded with an awkward sort of smile and a solemn nod to show that he agreed with the statement; one he was deeply afraid of disagreeing with. “Are you hungry?”  
Thankful for the change of subject, Dan nodded again, a little more feverishly this time.  
“Alright, give me a moment... You be a good boy and stay here.” She told him, stretching her sickeningly sweet smile some as she got off the bed and padded over to a chair placed by her dressing table. Mara picked up a blue satin dressing gown, pulled it on and wrapped it around herself, giving Dan a quick, happy little grin before she left the room, closing the door behind her.

When the ghost was sure it was safe to do so, he concentrated and made himself visible to the male vampire that was stuck to the bed. Confused by the sudden appearance of a man, Dan blinked and shifted uncomfortably.  
“Who the fuck are you?” He snipped, glancing over the ghost. “And how the fuck did you get in here?”  
“Uhm... I’m Ed, a friend of Ralph and Charlie’s...” Ed replied, trying out his best attempt at a friendly smile. “I’m a ghost and I sort of popped up here... Anyway, that’s not important – they sent me here to keep an eye on you. Your friends are worried about you... They want me to keep an eye on you for them. I won’t show up again, because I need to stay hidden, but, uhm, if you want to pass a message to them, I can do that for you?”  
“Oh, uhm...” Dan blinked again, relaxing his body this time when it was clear that this spirit wasn’t going to hurt him. “Rescue me? How about that? I want to go home, already.”  
“I’ll do my best.” Nodded the ghost, giving the vampire an awkward salute. “I’ll be around again later... So uhm, bye for now?”


	20. now at the end of every day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ed returns to Ralph & Charlie

With a blink, Ed had found himself back at Ralph and Charlie’s, stood in the middle of the ouija circle with eyes immediately staring at him. Uncomfortable, his back tensed and forced him to roll his shoulders as he shifted his weight. If it wasn’t for the fact that there were two witches in the room at that moment, he would have immediately hidden himself from everyone; unfortunately, with both a new witch and a strong witch in the room, an attempt to hide would only result in an extremely painful bout of the Glitches and so the spirit cleared his throat and made it perfectly clear that he was deeply uncomfortable with his current placement.  
As soon as those of the living persuasion noticed that he had made his return, they, one by one, began to break the circle and stand before him. All except for Sophie, who busied herself with clearing the circle's centrepieces while Ed and Ralph locked eyes.  
“Dan sent a message.” Ed told him, as confident as he could manage in the presence of such a strong male vampire. “Rescue me... He was rather impatient about it.”  
“We can’t yet.” Ralph replied with a heavy sigh. “Not until we put together a proper plan and we know what’s going on in that place. I know how Mara operates but with Dan there, she might have upped security or purposefully changed something just so she can trap us.”  
“To trap you.” Charlie interrupted, a quiet form of anger snipping at the edges of his words.  
“Don’t start this argument again, please. I promised you that we'd come up with a plan first before going anywhere near that place.” Bile threatened to force Ralph to gag at the image of being in a similar squat to the one he had escaped back in Leeds all that time ago but he managed to swallow it down and grab at his witch’s hand – not only to prove a point but also for his own comfort. With a deep breath, he managed to calm himself and push the thoughts away before he fell back into reality again.  
“He’s insistent on leaving. That Mara woman treats him like a pet dog and honestly, I can see why he’s so frustrated.” Ed argued. “If I was stuck with her, I'd want out sooner rather than later, too.”  
“Trust me, I know that feeling all too well.” Ralph sighed, giving Charlie’s hand another squeeze. “There is a reason why I ran away from her.”  
“She’s mad as a box of frogs.” Sophie’s voice cut through the atmosphere as she rose and entered the conversation. “I’ve seen her at Bloodline public rallies before... And Speaker’s Corner a few times. She honestly believes that vampires are superior to humans and she talks as if vampires are gods amongst men when really... They’re just broken humans, just like the rest of us.”  
“I wouldn’t say that to any humans if I were you.” Ed warned her, making a face as he adjusted his glasses. “I’ve heard the way the ones in the flat opposite talk about werewolves and vampires. Honestly, God only knows what they would do if they knew about angels and demons existing and being in power.”  
“Wait, how do you know that?” Frowned Ralph, blinking at the ghost in a creased shirt.  
“They have a spokesman each in the Spirit Council...” Shrugged Ed, shoving his hands into his pockets. “When it hasn’t appeared to a ghost who's scheduled for a meeting with the council, the angels take care of the board while the demons guard the planchette... A ghost in the studio told me about them.”  
“Bigger question is, Ralph, how do you know about them?” Sophie asked, tilting her head at him. “Oy witches are privy to that information. Everyone else thinks they’re human.”  
“I had a run in with a demon from the SPU a while back.” Ralph replied. “I could smell he wasn’t human and he told me what he was and that angels were basically in charge of things the humans can’t be trusted with while demons handled the policing of supernaturals.”  
Sophie hummed her response and tottered over to the couch where she had abandoned her bag so that she could put away her ritual objects.  
“An angel found James too, after he was turned, and brought him here after he was registered and got his collar. She was very, uhm, pushy.” Charlie added, frowning some as he remembered the way the angel had ordered that he and Ralph wolfsat James until he was given a handler and that they make sure a Changing Room was built into the basement of the building for him. He remembered her wings fluttering angrily when Charlie dared to ask why he and Ralph had to look after James in the first place.  
“Angels don’t like Furballs, at all, so of course she would have been pushy.” Sophie commented, swinging her bag over her shoulder and giving Charlie an empathetic sort of look.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t refer to werewolves as Furballs, Soph. We see it as derogatory.” James’ voice followed the door slam that had doused the room in silence. “It’d be like if I called you a Dunker or I called Ralph a Leech... Or Ed a Sheet.”  
“Sorry, James... Woody doesn’t seem to mind it.” Sophie replied, awkwardly fiddling with the strap of her bag.  
“Yeah, well, I mind.” The werewolf told her bluntly, moving from the door to an armchair tucked in the corner of the room before dumping himself onto it with a loud grunt.  
“He's not used to the idea of being a werewolf just yet.” Ralph explained, giving the female witch a reassuring expression. “He’s not used to the names that come with it.”  
“He has a name.” Called James from his tired throne. “And it sure as fuck isn’t Floss.”  
“I guess that’s my cue to leave.” Sophie mumbled, glancing between the men in the room before making a swift beeline for the door. “Let me know if you need help with anything else, okay?”  
“Alright, thanks again, Sophie.” Ralph nodded, releasing his grip on Charlie’s hand and following the female witch out of polite habit so that he could see her out.  
“What crawled up your tail?” Charlie asked, having turned his attention to the younger man that was currently making himself a little too comfortable on the witch’s favourite chair.  
“This fucking thing, that’s what.” James snapped, pointing at his collar. “All people do is stare at it. I hate it.”  
“Yeah, well, at least you can change your outfit.* Ed retorted quietly, deciding then to sit opposite the werewolf while Charlie hovered in the centre of the room and Ralph perched himself on the arm of the couch. “I’d rather be alive and wear that than be dead and be forever overdressed.”  
“I’d rather be dead than feel like I’m dying every month for the rest of my life.” James snipped back, kicking his shoes off and pulling his feet up onto the seat. “How did the spy mission go?”  
“Mara is weird and Dan is impatient about his rescue, but apart from that, it wasn’t much of an eventful mission.” Shrugged the ghost before flopping back into the couch properly.  
“Where did you go?” Ralph demanded, locking eyes with the werewolf.  
“Just for a walk.” James told him. “To clear my head, y'know? ... Turns out that doesn’t work so well when you have a wolf version of yourself in your head trying to get your attention and you have people glaring at you the whole time.”  
“I’m sorry, James.” Sighed Charlie, offering the wolf a look of empathy but that our seemed to increase the petulance in the other male's current temper tantrum.  
“No, you’re not. You don’t know how this feels.” Came the snippy, dare Charlie say, bitchy, retort. It stung the witch a little because he, too, was new to the idea of being supernatural and the werepuppy in front of him knew that fact.  
“Actually, he does.” Ralph corrected James with the same stern tone as a weathered teacher. “You know he does.”  
“Charlie’s new to being supernatural, too...” Ed gently reminded him, being the cooler head to Ralph’s slow building frustration. “And I know how it feels, because I had to adjust to this ghost stuff after I'd died. Imagine having to see your own funeral... Or being ignored by everyone because they can’t see you... It’s enough to make someone go mad.”  
“I just hate that I was stupid enough to get bit and now I have to deal with being the social equivalent of dog shit on the bottom of someone’s shoe just because of it.” Groaned the werewolf, running a hand through his hair.

He still got flashes of the night he'd been bitten. One moment he would be perfectly fine and the next, he was seeing the beast tearing into him, his own blood and hearing the combination of his own screaming and the wolf's snarling as he fought his way out of the situation. A demon SPU officer had saved him, but James often found himself wishing that the guy hadn’t bothered. He would rather be dead than have to repeat the most traumatic night of his life over and over while also dealing with the prejudices that came with the label of werewolf and the monthly near-death sentence he and to scream through once a month from then on. Little did either his handler or his friends here know, he had had moments where he had wanted to just end it all, just so that he could avoid the intensity of a change's pain ever again. An hour ago, in fact, he had been tempted to throw himself onto the tube tracks when he was making his way back to Ralph and Charlie’s... Just to make the flashes stop. What stopped him, he wasn’t sure, but whatever it was had made him change his mind as soon as the platform suddenly got busy.   
James sniffed, hard, and stretched so that he could push that train of thought to some quiet corner of his mind, where it would be forgotten for a while.  
“Sorry... It’s just. I don’t know. I'm not coping with this too well.” He confessed.  
“We get it, mate.” Nodded Ralph, making a point of reaching a hand out and patting the wolf's knee.


	21. i lie awake at night and wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meanwhile, inside the vampire nest

By the time morning had finally pushed it’s way through the thick, worn and stained blue curtains that were balanced against the window, Dan had managed to push himself off of the bed and wander over to Mara's dressing table to find himself a shirt. Given that the room was empty and deathly quiet, he guessed that the princess herself was currently holding court downstairs the way she would every morning, leaving him to enjoy his peace without worrying about having to feel an anxiety each time Mara spoke to him or moved to touch him. He could be left to his thoughts of Kyle and wondering how he was. He could be left to wondering when he would ever see that familiar and caring face again because, at this rate, he was already beginning to lose faith in Ralph’s apparent rescue plan – or lack thereof, as far as this vampire was aware. With a sigh, he pulled a dark t-shirt over his head then caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.  
“Fuckin’ Hell.” He muttered, frowning at his own image. It wasn’t the drastic change of look that bothered him, no, he had gotten used to that after a few days; it was how pale and gaunt he looked. He looked... Atrocious. Sickly. The cheekbones that normally blended perfectly into the rest of his face stuck out and looked like an ill-fitting frame. Had he have been wearing his glasses, he wouldn’t have noticed it so much, but this image... It was startling. Was it the low amount of blood he was getting into his system? Was it the stress of putting up with so much anxiety from being around Mara and the Bloodline grunts? Was it everything about being held as Mara's pet until something happened? Running through the list was exhausting and so, he took a deep breath, snatched his glasses off of the table and shoved them onto his face before he tripped into a battered pair of jeans and decided that he would risk an adventure downstairs to find a bag of blood to warm up. Hopefully, he would avoid the ghost of Ed as well as the cult members because he honestly couldn’t bring himself to have hushed conversations with a person no one else could see. It would give the impression that the cult had finally broken him and driven him into a vulnerable state of madness that allowed them to cut and rearrange the wires that were currently struggling to intact into something the princess wanted.

As he loped down the staircase, he came across a few of the collared feeders that were preparing themselves to be turned at that night's ritualistic event so that they could become Fully Pure. Something Dan thought of as utter bullshit, but with Mara’s terrible habit of losing her temper at the flip of a coin, especially at him, it was a thought he kept to himself and would politely pretend to care about as much as the poor, vulnerable people who had sold their souls to who they believed was their queen. A pair of youths, a blonde woman and a younger male with dark hair approached him with bright smiles on their faces.  
“Good morning, Dan!” Greeted the male, while the blonde gave him an awkward sort of wave.  
“Morning, Ash, Izzy... Alright?” Replied the vampire, doing his very best to ignore the painful pang of hunger that grumbled around in his stomach and attempting to give them both a smile. “Excited about tonight?”  
“Yes, of course!” Nodded Izzy, pushing some of her long, wavy, golden hair behind an ear.  
“We finally get to become Fully Pure.” Grinned Ash, practically vibrating with excitement. Oh, if only either of them knew what would happen if the SPU knew about this nest and decided to infiltrate it. If they knew about the torture chamber that was the VTC, and how they would, eventually, be forcibly taken there to be 'properly trained', Dan doubted that either of them would be very excited about the idea about becoming a vampire. He decided against raining on their parade, however and nodded in response.  
“That’s brilliant!” He said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as the humans did.  
“Are you going to find yourself some breakfast?” Asked Izzy, pushing herself up against the wall so that he could make his way passed and hit the ground floor with some ease.  
“Uh, yeah... Y'know, the usual. Baggy Breakfast.” Nodded Dan, absentmindedly running a hand against the back of his head. “I wish it was my feeder's blood, but beggars can’t be choosers.”  
“You could have some of ours if you wanted?” Offered Ash, much too keen about the idea, already making a point of displaying the white of his pale forearm. “We don't mind. It'd be an honour to feed the princess' favourite.” At that, the vampire’s entire body tensed and made him shift uncomfortably. He needed the fresh blood but these poor fucks were not Kyle and he would only feed from his boy, his lover, no one else. Kyle was his and he was Kyle’s; he had already been matched and so to taste anyone else’s blood would have Dan feel as if he was cheating on him.  
“Dan?” Izzy's voice snapped Dan back into reality and made him reanimate as if he were a puppet with a new master.  
“Oh, uhm, nah... Nah, mate, you’re alright.” He said, frowning some as he dropped his hand, taking a moment to glance at the bare wooden floor and watch his toes wiggling against the dust before he finally made a point of making eye contact with the younger male in front of him and offering him and his friend a weary sort of smile. “I appreciate the offer, though.”  
“Okay. Remember that we're around as feeders until midnight, yeah?” Ash replied, yanking his sleeve down and following Izzy up the staircase.  
“Will do. See you later.” Dan nodded, automatically giving them an awkward wave. He hovered there for a moment, watching as the clueless, brainwashed pair scurried up the stairs, gossiping about what would happen to them that night then swallowed his bile, sniffed, hard, and continued his loped walk into the kitchen.

There, he was accosted by the sight of it being empty. It was a surprise given the fact that, usually, the kitchen would have been rammed with people on any other morning. Feeders feeding themselves, vampires swigging at cups of reheated blood; noise and chaos normally ensued here and yet... It was empty, silent, uncomfortably so. However, Dan didn’t pause to give it a second thought and, instead, moved through the motions of reheating a bag of blood so that he could have his breakfast before the oncoming storm appeared from nowhere within those next few minutes.

“AB?” He scoffed, disgruntled by the sight of the bags before him in the fridge. Finding a fridge full of ABs was the vampire equivalent of opening a tub of Celebrations to find that only the Bountys were left. It was rare to come across a vampire that liked AB type blood and if they did, by God did other vampires tear into them for it. 'Ugh, how can you like that stuff? It tastes awful!', 'No wonder people avoid you, you smell of that shit all the time.”, “Is it another rationing period?”... All meant as jokes but sometimes it was obvious that it cut a little too deep. Thankfully, Dan had never been on the receiving end of such words and this morning, he would be left to his gross breakfast in peace. No jeering, no disgusted looks, just him and his disgusting, disgusting breakfast.

He was busy making faces at his breakfast in between gulps of it when Mara wafted into the area and gave him a grin.

“Enjoying your breakfast?” She asked, a touch of sarcasm in her voice.  
“About as much as I enjoy being here with all of your mad followers.” He replied sweetly before immediately regretting ever allowing for the joke to be uttered.  
“AB?” She asked, glancing between the male vampire and his cup a few times before giving him a sympathetic look. He nodded and made another face as he sipped at it. “I see. I'm sorry, my love... We'll sort something out for you.” A promise Dan didn’t quite like the sound of.  
“Sort something for me?” He frowned, carefully placing the cup down onto the counter.  
“Mhm, I have a plan in motion... You'll have your boy back soon enough.” The casual air of her reply made Dan's blood boil over with rage but his fear of her kept him silent and stewing. “Isn’t that what you wanted? To have Kyle with you? Safe?”  
“That doesn’t mean you getting your goons to kidnap him!” Oh, oh no, that error would very soon be corrected. He could feel it in his marrow.  
“Daniel, come here.” There it was, that urge to vomit as the magic collar forced him to obey the command, inching closer to her, stopping just far enough away for her to smack him. He felt his body tense as it predicted the physical punishment’s imminent arrival but could do no more than wait for her reaction.  
And there it was, as expected, the viper bite of a slap across the cheek, making the skin tingle and forcing Dan to wince.  
“I’m doing you a favour, you ungrateful little bastard!” Hissed Mara, her eyes cold as they locked on the male's. “Be appreciative! I can’t let you leave but I can bring him to you – you should be grateful that I'm even allowing him to be brought to you at all!”  
“I’m sorry, Princess.” The words were pushed up and out of him by his bile and he tensed again as her hand was placed against his face.  
“It’s alright, sweetheart, you and I are both hungry and it’s made us a little... Grumpy.” Mara replied, stroking his prominent cheekbone with a thumb as a physical form of apology. “Go and finish your breakfast, darling... You and I have a big day today.”  
“A big day?” His curiosity escaped and made itself known as he obeyed the gentle command to finish his Blood Bounty breakfast.  
“Yes, sweetheart,” nodded the cult leader, sticking a hand into the fridge to find herself a baggie of her own, “we’re going on a wolf hunt.”


	22. to feel the wires of my brain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "we're going on a wolf hunt!"

After being kept inside for so long made the idea of being outside quite a frightening one for the younger vampire, who was discreetly tethered to the princess, especially as they walked through the busied streets on their 'Wolf Hunt'. His blue eyes darted about the place as he tried to process all of the information around him and ultimately failed due to the lack of time in which he was even allowed to put his thoughts into any sort of order as Mara dragged him along. What was worse was the fact that her biggest, beefiest goons were out on this 'adventure', too, and they made it hard to ignore the amount of staring the passers by were giving them. Meanwhile, Mara herself was dressed in what could be considered, to her, as civilian attire; a pair of black leggings, a black vest top and a blue denim jacket. No jewellery, no finery, no effort made in her appearance save for the shininess of her big blue DMs, her basic make-up and her hair being tied back... If it hadn't been for the tether that attached Dan to her, her blue cult tattoos being on display in certain areas and the grey, metal baseball bat resting against her shoulders, she would have looked like any other vampire woman strutting through London without so much as a second glance in her direction. She was humming to herself as they walked, not in any particular tune but the younger vampire did recognise what it was. _We're Going On A Bear Hunt_.  
"... Princess?" Managed Dan, after fighting with the conditioned urge to start joining in. "Where exactly are we going?"  
"I told you, we're going on a wolf hunt!" Exclaimed Mara with a happy little grin splayed across her face.  
"A wolf hunt?" Dan echoed, still a little confused by the statement; no matter how many times it had been repeated to him.  
"Yes!" She replied with a childish sort of nod. "He isn't a big one, unfortunately, but he might be useful since he has connections to Ralph and one of the spies told me that he can take us to Kyle as well." At this response, the male vampire found himself frowning as he tried to figure out which werewolf she was referring to. The two 'smallest' werewolves he knew of were Woody and James but the one with the biggest connection to Ralph? Probably the latter. Dan was aware of the fact that Ralph and Charlie had been 'wolfsitting' James after he was turned and collared and had kept him safe during his changes in their building's basement while Woody would stay at home with his family most of the time. "He's more of a puppy, really, but we still need him." Definitely James. Woody had been a werewolf from the age of fifteen; James, on the other hand, had only been turned six months ago making him, in the common vernacular, a puppy.  
"We're hunting... James?" Mumbled Dan, to which the princess gave him an excited gasp in response.  
"How did you know?" She exclaimed excitedly.  
"You said puppy. He's the only new... Ish... Werewolf any of us know." He replied, trying not to show his deep concern for the safety of the currently oblivious werewolf they were apparently tracking and planning to knock out with what Dan now realised was a solid silver baseball bat. "Are you going to... Y'know... Kill him?"  
At this Mara paused her stride and gave him a look. "Of course not, silly!" She giggled, shaking her head in such a way that her bangs flopped about. "We're going to bash him and bring him home so we can adjust his collar so that he becomes a good little doggy for us and takes us to Kyle for you."  
"... Bash him?" Blinked Dan, unable to get the idea of James getting a good smack to the back of the head with a bat out of his mind.  
"Come on, or we'll miss him!" The princess insisted, tugging at the tether and leading the group onward on their journey.

x x x x x x

Meanwhile, not too far away, the puppy in question was growling quietly at his phone as he tried to get away with not responding to Ralph's latest barrage of text messages. _Where are you???_ , _WHY ARE YOU NOT WEARING YOUR COLLAR?_ , _ANSWER ME!_. All of them left ignored as James shoved his phone into his jacket pocket and slunk away from a crossing. He didn't need that fucking thing squeezing around his neck, especially when he had a still-healing tattoo burning into the back of it at a rate of knots, making it difficult to breathe the free air he was perfectly entitled to without the fear of being stared at by passing humans. He was a wolf once a month, for Christ's sake and a human the rest of the time. He wasn't going to tear someone apart with his teeth in this form. Besides that, it would go against the whole vegetarian schtick if he did suddenly decide to lose his damn mind in his human form and try to rip into someone's arm... Also it was probably defined as a form of cannibalism. At least, he thought so? Fuck, he would have to go through the whole conversation about dietary issues with the vampire again.  
"Fuck's sake!" He blurted in heated frustration as he found himself smacking an arm into a lamp-post. After pausing to inspect his upper arm and making sure there wasn't any damage, not that there would be, James decided to continue his quest for something to eat before ducking into a shop to quickly snatch up a few packets of biscuits as an apology gift for Charlie for scoffing all of the poor witch's chocolate digestives. That was one of the few things about the pre-Change that James didn't really care for; the insatiable hunger and the, uh, sudden urges to lock himself in his room to have a little 'private time' three or four times in one day. At first it wasn't something he really thought about, it was just a primal urge to either eat or wank, but after a while it became something of an annoyance to him and his temporary roommates. Especially Ralph, who had compared the pre-Change ritual to James regressing back to his teenage self and finding himself having become a worn out parent to him. James, meanwhile had embraced the idea of the (sort of) teenage rebellion that had been brewing within him and snuck off to join a gang. Or rather, he had joined a very dangerous wolf pack that had initiated him just a few weeks ago by removing his collar and tattooing their symbol onto the back of his neck. To be fair, it was the only group to have allowed him to release all of his fears and rage against the fact that he was now one of the most hated groups in polite society. Not even his friends and family allowed him to do so, they only enforced the idea that he had to follow the inhuman laws that no longer allowed him to be a person. He wasn't even a number, like Ralph, Dan and Will were, no... He was now just another wolf that needed to be collared and locked down. Just another problem. Just another stain... And that angered him more than anything else in the world. It had angered him before he had been turned, as he had seen the way humans, especially officials of some kind, interacted with both Woody and Ben. They were treated the same way as the dirt on one's shoe while vampires were, to an extent, treated the same way as humans while demons were treated with the utmost of respect because they wore a uniform. Now, being treated that way himself angered him even more. Just because they changed into wolves once a month, it didn't change who they were as people. He was still James Ball outside of the creature that writhed around inside. 

Suddenly, from nowhere, a smell he recognised hit his nose just as hard as a punch to the face and his eyes widened when the wires of his brain finally came together and informed him of whose scent he had found.  
"Dan?" He mouthed to himself before stopping in his tracks and feverishly looking around for any sign of the currently lost vampire. "Dan!" He called, standing on his toes so that he could try peeping over the shoulders of those taller than himself in a bid to try and get visual contact of his target. "Dan!" He shouted again, once he had glimpsed a very different looking Dan stood near an odd looking woman whose scent he did not recognise but he knew was a vampire. Immediately, without a second thought about the potential danger he was now in, James sprinted over to the vampire he knew. "Dan, mate! It's me!"


	23. get cut and quietly rearranged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> james manages to to get himself into an impromptu scrap

Not thinking about the fact that there were other, far more dangerous, vampires surrounding Dan; nor the fact that the female vampire had her wild green eyes glued to him as he slowly approached his friend, James made an immediate beeline for the skinhead that was stood awkwardly, one hand fiddling with his sleeve and a blue collar about his neck. At this particular detail, the werewolf found himself frowning, unable to take his eyes away from the worn leather that was bound around the vampire's throat and he had to stop himself from releasing a quiet, low growl by swallowing it down along with his sudden affliction of bile. Did the Bloodline collar him? Why? A collar like that would do nothing to a regular dog, let alone a supernatural creature. Was it a stylistic choice? No... No, because then the other vampires would be wearing them, too. All the others had, apart from the female, was the matching blue stripe across their eyes the same as Dan did. She, on the other hand, he'd noticed as he made his wary, unsteady halt some distance away from the small band of vampires before him, had blue coloured tattoos... Or was that body paint? Or some form of Henna? Nevermind what it was, it certainly made her stand apart from the men.  
"...Dan?" James managed, after having hesitated to take in the view before him.  
The vampire said nothing but his body language said more than any words could. He had tensed his back, looked away from the younger man and had his eyes fixed to the floor after he had paused to look over the female vampire he had been tethered to. He had clenched his jaw, swallowed, forced his hands into the pockets of his jeans and pinned his elbows to his sides. From this, James could tell that Dan was desperate to get away from these odd vampires and he had come to the conclusion that something needed to be done. Fast. The werewolf took a deep breath and made to pull his phone from out of his pocket, keeping himself very much aware of his surroundings as he did so. He quickly devised a text message to Ralph stating only the numbers 999 and an emoji that was supposed to 'accurately' represent a vampire, sent it then immediately put his phone away, making a point of clearing his throat. "We've been looking for you everywhere, mate... Kyle's worried sick. Shit, everyone's worried sick."  
"He's fine." Chirped the female, lowering her baseball bat as she adjusted her pose. The light that glinted off of the silvery metal hit James in the eyes and made him blink in response before he rediscovered his bearings and glared at her. "See? Perfectly fine, aren't you?" She added, turning her attention to Dan, who still refused to speak but nodded. He looked uncomfortable doing so and this made James suspicious.  
"Dan can speak for himself." He snipped, deciding then that he was going to ignore the 'softly softly catchy monkey' approach by approaching his friend and reaching a hand out to the only familiar vampire in the entire shop. He didn't care about Ralph's plans anymore because he could see Dan here, physically in front of him, and he could very easily just grab the older man, pull the tether apart and yank him away from the situation. Run away with Dan in tow. Be the hero of the hour. What made it harder to continue with his plan, however, was the way Dan had suddenly looked up at him and given him a slew of different expressions. A frown, followed immediately by concern and fear. Pure fear. Something James had never seen on this vampire's face before and had developed the anxious mess of emotions within his rib cage into a giant knot of adrenaline-fuelled panic. A few seconds was all he needed to make his improvised plan work. A few seconds was- _Whoosh!_ The sound of the baseball bat being swung in his direction immediately made James drop his hand, duck and with the noisy clang of a smack against the shelf that was mere inches away from Dan's head, the werewolf suddenly found himself struggling with his fight or flight defence modes. 

Before he could blink, there were more sudden movements; more swings in his direction, each one he just about managed to avoid before he sprang upright and he came face to face with a huge grunt of a vampire. With wide eyes, he tried to process the thoughts that were currently barrelling through his brain like a ricocheting bullet and caught a smack right to the right side of his face for the privilege of taking a few moments to process the situation. Instead of crying out, he huffed and growled, his instinctive need to hit back forcing his fist to break through the air between himself and the vampire and give him a rabbit punch to the nose.  
That's when he heard Dan's voice for the first time in weeks. "James, run! Now! Go!"  
"What about you?" James snapped back, glancing back at his friend for a split second as he continued to dodge and scrap with the brick shit house he was trying so hard to avoid getting anymore hits from just as another grunt decided to join in on the fun.  
"I'll be fine, just go! Fucking go, James! Run!" Dan shouted back at him and with that, James dodged a fourth punch gave Dan a nod then began his scrambled escape, with the two heavyset vampires following close behind him like hounds on the tail of a fox. 

Due to his instincts kicking in, James just scarpered out of the shop and snapped to his left, following a scent he recognised. He wasn't entirely sure why he recognised it, but he followed it anyway, sprinting and scraping his way down alleyways and less travelled paths just so that the grunts would follow him to a place that was away from the all too curious eyes of the general public. Despite their heavier builds, they were managing to keep up with him as he galloped through the backstreets, avoiding the obstacles he had kicked over as he went by. That was until he had found himself with a canal lane to his immediate right and nothing but fencing to his left. No hidey-holes, no quick escapes, nothing of any fucking use.  
"Shit! Fuck!" He panted, narrowly avoiding crashing into some idiot on a BMX, who became collateral damaged as they were shoved to one side by the Bloodline vampires, before... Before his foot was caught by a rock and the werewolf faceplanted the dirty ground and, due to the momentum behind it, his body slammed down too, temporarily winding him. With a groan, he rolled over onto his back and tried to sit up, only to find one of the grunts stood above him, gripping tightly at his jacket. Unsure of what to do, James reacted by yanking back, trying to ferret his way out of the situation and kicking out at the second grunt until his energy was beginning to drain. "Get... Off... Me! Fuck off! _Fuck_ off!" He huffed, growling as he eventually pushed the grunt off, rolling him into the nearby body of water and scurried backwards so that he could mentally prepare himself for the next round brought on by the other grunt. He gave the vampire a low, angry-sounding growl of warning, something the wolf within wanted to make damn sure the other male heard loud and clear, then slowly got to his feet and stood his ground. There was no way this fox was going outrun that hound. Not without losing more time to more minor injuries. He couldn't fly, so he would have to fight. No matter how much his human side wanted to argue against it. He was forced to fight. He took a few deep breaths and brought his vibrating fists up to show the vampire that he did mean business now; that he was not going to run this time.  
"Come on, then, you fuck! What are you waiting for?" He shouted, cutting into the otherwise fairly quiet air. "Let's fucking do this!" 

Within seconds, the two collided; the grunt trying to use his brute force against a strong and speedy werewolf, who seemed genuinely surprised by the idea that he knew how to box like an extreme amateur, throwing the occasional rabbit punch and just about managing to dodge quite a few of the smacks that were headed his way. He shuffled around, trying not to focus on the fact that the scent he had been following was growing stronger by the second so that he could maybe, maybe survive this scrap. He was so focused on trying to survive, in fact, that he very nearly missed the loud whistle that came from behind him that had distracted the Bloodline grunt enough to make him back away from the young werewolf. Confused, James blinked and turned to find the pack leader stood confidently with a wide, proud sort of grin slapped across his thin face.  
"Eh up, James, got yerself a Leech problem 'ave ya?" Said the werewolf, calmly cracking his knuckles as he approached the two, with a few other pack members following slowly behind him. "Need a hand gettin' rid of 'im?"


	24. and hear my beaten heart exclaim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> james and paul have a heavy conversation

A complete look of awe at the sheer power and speed of the pack members' handiwork scratched itself into James' face as he watched his alpha and two of the general fodders took care of the remaining grunt while another two werewolves made damn sure that the other vampire in the vicinity, who was currently fighting with the dirty canal water, would meet his demise. A scrape and a thump echoed through the still air as a now headless Bloodline grunt fell to the floor, making the youngest werewolf flinch then freeze to the spot where he stood. Not knowing what else to do with his hands, James dropped them and watched, helplessly, as Paul admired what was left of the vampire's body before turning to face the younger male.  
"What the fuck..?" Breathed James, physically unable to look away from the other werewolves as they finished off their apparently planned jobs and unintentionally ignoring the alpha that was taking a few overly-confident steps toward him. If it hadn't been for Paul's aggressive attempts at making eye contact with him, James probably wouldn't have even blinked.  
"You alright, mate?" Paul's voice made him jump violently. "You look a little shaken up."  
James hesitated. How was he supposed to respond to his alpha without getting into trouble; especially after having his fur saved by him? This wasn't like any conversation with Ralph, who had been deemed an unofficial alpha of the entire Heinz 57 group of people they were apart of... James couldn't give out the same sarcastic tones and snappy retorts to Paul in the same way as he did to Ralph. There was a significant difference between the two, and it was not simply because of their supernatural status. It was the fact that James had no idea how Paul would react to such insubordinate behaviour within his pack of uncollared misfits. To be fair, James hadn't known anyone within that pack for longer than a few weeks and he'd barely spoken two words to anyone apart from the alpha, who demanded an entire room of wolves' respect as soon as he lazily sauntered into it. Besides that, there was an instinctive tug at the younger werewolf's chest to just submit to Paul, no matter the situation and a sarcastic quip would go against that primal urge to show his leader some respect.  
"James?" Paul's eyes pierced into him as they locked gaze. "Hm," continued the tall, skinny, tattooed man, sniffing hard as he straightened himself and quickly scanned his lesser with some concern, "to be fair t'ya, it is kind of a shock to the system when you see your first dead vampire... How about you and me go back to the Hideout, eh? Get you cleaned up an' that... You're probably better off being away from 'ere anyway, in case the coppers turn up."  
"I, uhm... Yeah." Replied James, nodding feverishly and overcompensating for his previous silence. "Yeah, alright, yeah."

x x x x x x x x

In a private, makeshift room in the pack's hideout, the alpha and the were-puppy sat opposite one another with nothing but a splintering, woodworm infested table and an open first aid kit box between them. In the dim lighting, Paul's angular features seemed to be glorified and James found it hard not to try and study them. What was worse was the fact that the symbols and letters that were inked into the other werewolf's skin distracted him more. Each one was so radically different and they were either the result of a lack of self-control or an obsessive need to ink every memory onto himself... James still couldn't decide on which reason made more sense to him and tried hard to ignore the question by staring at his own knuckles and wincing, loudly, when a harsh lash of vodka was doused over them.  
"Fuck!" He shouted involuntarily, instinctively yanking his hand away as soon as the threat of another dose became obvious to him.  
"Oh hush, ya big baby!" Snipped Paul, grabbing at James' wrist and yanking it back into place. "It's no worse than what you'd get from summing like TCP."  
"It hurts!" Whined the younger male, frowning at his alpha.  
"Of course it does, its alcohol hitting an open wound." Sniffed the elder, giving his lesser an amused sort of expression. "What did you expect?"  
"... Sorry." Mumbled James, realising how petulant he had become in that moment.  
"Ah, no, don't worry about it..." Paul sighed, ripping an old t-shirt apart to make an improvised bandage and beginning to carefully wrap James' hand with it. "What did you do to piss off the Princess of Crazy, then?"  
James blinked at him. "What?"  
"Superior Bloodline. What did you do to piss them off?" Paul reiterated, briefly pausing in his work to give the younger man a tired, tested sort of expression. "You wouldn't have been scrapping with two of their grunts without fucking off Her Highness in some way, so... What did you do?"  
"... I was trying to help a vampire friend of mine." James explained quietly, which, for some reason, gained him a pushed out lower lip of feigned interest in response. "They have him held there against his will and I was going to try and rescue him... They had him collared and he was tied to this woman with blue tattoos all over her-"  
"That would be Princess Mara herself and, by the sounds of it, your mate's been made her personal little lapdog." Scoffed the alpha, returning his attention to the bandage. "Why? God only knows. No fucker knows what's going on in that mad little brain of 'er's. I don't think she even knows half t' time." He added with a quiet laugh before moving onto James' other scraped hand.  
"You sound like you know her really well." Frowned the pup, suspicious of the information he'd been given.  
"All I know is that I hate her with every fibre of my being and that I'll be keeping your friend in my prayers." Replied the alpha, subtly clenching his jaw. It wasn't as if prayers had stopped Mara from killing his son. It wasn't as if prayers had saved anyone else that had been taken by the cult and had their original personalities erased from existence in order to please her... But this kid seemed like he needed some kind of positive response and so, Paul decided that he had to give him prayers at the very least.  
"I mean, my friends and I do have a plan but... I saw him and I thought that maybe I could rescue him, y'know?" James said, trying not to show off his concerns too much.  
"I get it, but sometimes a public attempt at escape will get both you and your mate into more trouble than it's worth." Paul told him, sounding like the father figure Ralph had previously been expected to take the role of. "What d'you think's gonna 'appen to 'im now? Eh?"  
James shrugged because he genuinely had no idea as to what Mara had in store for Dan following this incident.  
"He's going to get a punishment... And sure as fire's hot, it won't be the good kind." Paul told him, exchanging expressions with the younger wolf that sat awkwardly opposite him. "Y'know how a lot of vampires talk about how the VTC is a government funded torture chamber?"  
James stayed silent but still nodded his response.  
"Bloodline's a hundred times worse than the government ever could be... Not that any of it matters. Humans don't give a shit about any of us, really." Paul's hesitation hit something inside James' chest and made his heart sink.  
"Especially not us." He mumbled.  
"Especially not us." Paul agreed with a nod as he finished up another makeshift bandage. "Which is why, I s'pose, it's good that you and your other mates have some kind of plan to get him out of that place... Problem is, what happens after the Big Rescue?"  
"I... Don't know." James sighed, searching Paul's eyes for some kind of answer. "I have no fucking clue."


	25. 'still, I refuse to let her go.'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang has an argument

After Paul had given him the permission to leave, and after giving his pack-mates an awkward sort of smile as he left, James found himself back on the street and trying to make sense of his thoughts. The problem was, however, after experiencing everything he had experienced, it was proving to be rather difficult. With a deep breath and some sort of exasperated-sounding groan, he decided that he would make his way back to Ralph and Charlie's, empty handed and with his tail between his legs. Oh God, he was probably going to get an earful from Ralph... He could already hear most of it; along with the witch's pleas for his vampire to calm down while the ghostly form of Ed loomed somewhere in the corner, fighting with the urge to hide himself so that he wouldn't start glitching. It had become an over-familiar sort of scene, especially since it was discovered that James had managed to remove his collar. A part of him prayed that Ralph would never find out about the tattoo that had been burned into the back of his neck, but it wasn't an easily hidden area and it would be suspicious if he had decided to start wearing nothing but turtlenecks.

It wasn't long before the werewolf had made his journey home and, as expected, he had returned home to an irate, pacing vampire, a concerned, frightened witch and an awkward-looking ghost waiting for him. What surprised James was the image of another vampire sat in an armchair and the heavy scent of another werewolf being in the room. Swallowing down his cowardice, James closed the door and slowly approached the centre of the room where he was immediately glared at and silently scrutinised.  
"What happened?" Came the surprisingly calm question from Ralph. "Where's Dan?"  
"I... I saw him... With those cult vampires... Before I could get him, they chased me out of the shop and, uhm-" Stumbled the werewolf, trying desperately to avoid looking him in the eyes.  
"What?" Insisted Ralph.  
"Ralph, don't push him." Said Charlie quietly.  
"You lost him?" Woody's voice cut through the tension, appearing from the kitchen, apparently having helped himself to the beer that had been sitting in the fridge.  
"I'm sorry!" Yipped James. "I didn't mean to lose him! They chased me... She tried to smack me with a bat!"  
"She?" Ralph's body seemed to tense then relax at the pronoun. "Mara was there?"  
James nodded feverishly in response. "Yeah, she almost split my head open with a bat, like I said."  
It was Will's turn to cut into the conversation, now. "How did Dan seem, James?"  
"Oh, y'know, as anyone would when they've been collared and held by a mad bitch of a vampire and her cult," James retorted, "yeah, Dan was fucking fantastic! How d'you think he was, Will?"  
"Don't you dare snap at him." Ralph snipped at the youngest male in the room, making a quick few steps toward him. "Now is not the time for sarcastic bullshit!"  
"... Ralph, baby, please." Charlie mumbled, taking a moment to saunter over to the anxious vampire and putting a hand to his shoulder. As if the witch had inadvertently used his magic on the vampire, Ralph took a deep breath, stepped back and pulled Charlie into him as a means of self-comfort.  
"She could have killed you both, right there." He muttered after an uncomfortably long silence had settled in the room like a layer of thick dust. "She nearly did kill you... If Mara had had her way, she would have fucking killed you, James. I can't lose people to her. I lost my mind to her once, I can't lose the people I'm closest to because of her, too. I can't. It's why I'm so frustrated... I'm sorry. Shit." He breathed, allowing Charlie to place a soft kiss against his cheek in a bid to console him. "You said he'd been collared? What colour was it?"  
"What does it matter?" Woody asked, confused.  
"It matters, trust me." Ralph replied, pausing to give the elder werewolf a quick glare before returning his attention to James. "What colour was it?"  
"Blue... Like everything else seemed to be in that weird fucking cult." James told him, frowning as he noted the amount of blue that had bombarded him earlier that day.  
"The Controllers. She still uses them?" It was supposed to come out as disbelief but what had left Ralph was pure sadness. Charlie understood that the tone was the correct one because, lately, Ralph had agreed to be more open with him about his time in Superior Bloodline and some things had clearly stuck with the vampire.  
"... I mean, I suppose so? Dan had one around his neck, anyway." James clearly hadn't realised that it had been a rhetorical question.  
"James?" Woody sighed. "Shut up."

 

x x x x x x x 

Time passed excruciatingly slowly as Ralph and the others each tried to make sense of James' story. Both Will and Woody had left and made their return with Kyle and the three of them continued the circle of interrogation. It had circled so much that it was beginning to make the young werewolf feel overwhelmingly dizzy. How many more times could he explain what had happened? How many more times would he have to repeat the lie he had devised about his knuckles? Round and around it went until, eventually, finally, someone noticed that James wasn't wearing his legally mandated shock collar.  
"James... What happened to your collar?" It was Woody who had decided to brave that question. Ralph had already tried, several times and had clearly given up on asking, so his current sigh of exasperation was just another non-verbalised output of his frustration toward James' rebellious streak.  
"He got a mate to take it off for him, if you can believe that." Ralph answered the question, sharing a very intense expression with the other werewolf. "And it wasn't Ben, before you ask."  
"Then who?" Woody frowned, straightening himself up as he tried to ignore the tension in his lower back. "Oh no, don't tell me... You joined his pack didn't you?"  
"So what if I did?" Shrugged James. "What does it matter?"  
"He's going to get you killed." Woody growled.  
"You joined a pack?" Ralph's head immediately snapped back toward James on the other side of the room. "You joined a fucking pack?"  
"Not just any pack, Paul Inch's pack... The Uncollared pack." Woody mumbled. "They take off the collars and then put a tattoo on the back of the neck."  
"You fucking what? Paul Inch? Are you fucking mad?" James was now beginning to miss when Ralph had been calmly angry with him. The loud snapping was ringing in his ears and making it difficult to focus.  
"What is wrong with you?" Woody agreed, glaring angrily at him.  
"What does it matter right now?" James snapped back. "Aren't we more bothered about Mara and the Bloodhound Gang than my activities right now?"

Unable to answer him, Ralph took a deep breath and flopped back into his seat before putting his head into his hands and releasing a loud sigh. Charlie, meanwhile, kept looking to Kyle and Will, who both gave him a sympathetic sort of expression while the ghost in the room decided to pop into the middle of the living room.  
"Sorry to, uh, interrupt but... You guys might want to get your shit together because Mara's really, uhm, I don't even know how to describe it... It's bad, though. Really fucking bad!" He stammered, pushing at his glasses as he spoke. Apparently, the ghost had decided that he would continue a part of his spy mission while the rest of the group squabbled and verbally tore tufts out of one another and only just returned. "We need to go and save him from her because... Fucking hell."


	26. so we escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ tw for violence and physical abuse ] 
> 
> dan attempts an escape and ultimately fails.

In the chaos of James' escape and while Mara was suitably distracted, having released her grip on the tether, Dan had the tiniest gap in which to make an attempt to escape her clutches. Without even thinking twice about it, the vampire took a sharp, deep breath and bounded into a sprint, zig-zagging out of the shop. His feet pounded against the grey slabs that made up the pavement as he panted and manoeuvred his way through the busy street, taking just enough amount of care not to knock anyone over and refusing to look back over his shoulder. He couldn't bare the thought of Mara being a hair's breadth behind him, silently screamingly angry as she chased down her prey. He couldn't bare the thought of knowing that it was a possibility for her to be there at all. He couldn't know if he kept looking forward as he sprinted down the street. The vampire was like a spooked whippet, unable to stop for fear of being taken down. Can't stop, can't stop, can't stop. That was his only mantra. He needed to keep moving.  
"Daniel!" Mara's voice pierced into his back like a bullet, hitting him right in the centre of his spine at the speed of sound, making him trip over his own feet and fall to the ground with a painful skid of scrape. Panting, panicking, he scrambled up onto his feet and anxiously scanned the surrounding mesh of people for the one recognisable face and blue-tinted skin. "Come here!" The sickening urge to obey the screamed order came writhing up through his entire body, streaming through his veins and attacking his brain with the command and he bent over, ready to vomit before he heard the princess scream the order again. His body, aching and desperate to fight against the magic that controlled him from the neck, forced itself to move again, following the invisible line that would eventually reconnect the two vampires. Oh God, he could only imagine the punishment he was about to receive from the inconsolably irate female vampire once he had come to his unhappy halt before her highness. He prayed for some mercy from her in the form of saving her abuse for when they had returned to the squat. Shit, he prayed for another member of his mismatched pack to turn up and rescue him from her predictable violent outburst. He prayed for a fucking break.  
"We're going home. Now." Were the only words uttered by the disconcertingly calm woman at the end of his path before he was yanked and dragged away from a few staring passers by. 

The fear that had been building up inside his rib cage was close to overflowing by the time they had returned to the squat. It couldn't be helped, Dan had to swallow it down and pray his stomach wouldn't betray him and force it all back up again as he followed the petite vampire through the front door and down to the basement. This was the only room in the liberated house he had not set foot in as of yet and it terrified him, right down to the core of his marrow, to imagine what was going to happen to him there. What Mara would do to him down there. How she would execute her very carefully planned punishment for him. He almost whimpered when she glared at him as her long, pale fingers untied the tether that was attached to his collar and commanded him to stay rooted to the ground in the centre of the room. There it was again, that bile rising up at the back of his throat; that deep fear taunting him with the urge to vomit already. Trying to keep his face neutral and calm, Dan clenched his jaw and forced himself to swallow the bile back down, making a point of breathing deeply so that he wouldn't lose his mind and just scream a barrage of pleas for forgiveness. He wasn't weak enough to break just yet. He wasn't weak enough to bend to breaking point and snap for her just yet, although he feared that this anticipated punishment might just be enough to do so. If the starvation and emotional manipulation he had suffered through hadn't been quite enough yet, then the next bout of physical abuse - that was mere milliseconds away from beginning - might just bring him to his knees for her and dear God, he couldn't bare the idea.  
"Down." The command had been sung so sweetly but Dan could still almost taste the venom in it as the collar about his throat forced him down onto his knees. He grimaced as he struggled with the discomfort he felt, trying hard to look at anything other than Mara. Anywhere other than in her direction. A part of him wanted to screw his eyes shut and pretend that none of this misery was happening; that it was simply a nightmare concocted by his subconscious and that he could wake up at any moment to find himself in his own bed, safe and sound at home, clinging to Kyle's frame for dear life. However, his brain was fully awake and alert to the present dangers that were about to mentally destroy him as well as physically and it made his breathing falter somewhat as his heart punched against his ribs in a rapid fashion. Yes, he was absolutely fucking terrified of this seemingly harmless woman. Yes, he was absolutely fucking terrified of the idea that he might break and become the thing she wanted and he despised the most... But no, there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. What could he do? He was bound by magic to obey her command to sit and stay like some kind of puppy. He was forced to his knees by a madwoman and there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. It wasn't that he didn't have the fight within him, it was that the magic that bound him forced him not to fight, even when her open palm collided with a loud smack against Dan's cheek and made him cry out in pain. He was vulnerable and he wasn't able to fight back and her powerful hold over him was, understandably, frightening. After the chill of the force's wind that followed the smack had graced his stinging skin, he straightened himself and braced for another hit.

x x x x x x x 

"Mean it!" Screamed the cult princess, delivering another hard blow to the male vampire's face. It was getting hard to breathe with the blood clogging his nose and flooding from his mouth but Dan still, just about, managed to straighten himself and look Mara dead in the wild green eyes. Their fierce rage pierced into his wide, fearful blues and he choked on the words he was supposed to spit out along with the gobful of blood that splattered against the dusty basement floor, trying hard to fight with the urge to just break down completely.  
"I'm... Sorry... Princess." He panted, another slimy string of blood from the deep cut on his lower lip dribbling down his front and adding yet another Pollock-like stain onto what was, this morning, a pristine t-shirt. Between the amount of sweat and the amount of blood, by that point, it was hard to tell what patch was caused by what. His vision was blurred at the edges, making it almost impossible to tell from what side Mara was going to strike next. Then again, it was impossible to tell _how_ Mara would strike him next. She swayed from side to side in front of him, glaring at him like an angry cobra, her left hand a tight fist and her right hand an open, shaking palm.  
"I told you that you were to stay with me." She hissed, deciding then that it was time to add to Dan's lack of dignity by spitting directly at him, which made him flinch. "It was an order and I told you what would happen if you were to disobey me!"  
"... I'm... Sorry..." He managed again, swaying with her now, totally unable to keep his body stiff and braced for the next attack anymore. "Please..."  
"No!" She shouted, punching him. "You are a disobedient little shit! You deserve your punishment! Your apology is bullshit!" With the final smack to his face, Dan's body failed him and collapsed, too exhausted to even try and stay stoic and strong any longer. He was too exhausted to close his eyes, even and found himself staring at a pair of black men's shoes that were somewhere close to the damp wall. He managed to follow the legs up to find a familiar face. A familiar ghost's face. Ed. He looked utterly disgusted and horrified by the scene that was playing out in front of him; and who could blame the dead man? Dizzy and weak, Dan gave the ghost a pleading, desperate sort of expression. It was the only one he could manage now, anyway. Anything else was long forgotten.  
"Help." He was all he could manage to mouth at the ghost who frowned, deeply concerned and extremely hesitant about leaving the vampire alone with this banshee, then nodded and disappeared. As he took a wheezing breath, Mara yanked him upright and forced herself close enough for Dan to be able to feel the heat from her breaths against his sore skin, making him gasp loudly before he decided to try his hand at offering her another weakened word of apology. 

"I'm... Sorry... Princess."


	27. to our mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the rescue mission is drawn up.

Using an old Risk board, Ralph was busy laying down the battle plans while the group huddled around the coffee table to try their hands at squinting at the worn labels of the spice pots they had been assigned. Apparently Ed's outburst had actually gotten the group to set aside their petty arguments and actually work on saving the missing member of their dysfunctional supernatural family. Now that it had come right down to the line in the sand Mara had scraped with her stick, they needed to work as a team, as a small platoon, in order to save their friend, lover, brother; and by God, did they snap to it quickly. Ed found himself rather impressed with their ability to shift gears so quickly when he had broken the news that Dan was dangerously close to his breaking point if he hadn't already snapped. Kyle's whimper of desperation in response was what had animated Ralph, making him scurry about the place looking for something on which he could explain his half-baked ideas and make damn sure each grouping knew where their marks were.  
"Wait, so I'm with Will?" James frowned, still trying to decipher which spice was his assigned marker.  
"No, you're with Kyle." Ralph snipped, pointing at the pot labelled tumeric.  
"Wait, I thought I was tumeric?" Kyle piped up, frowning some.  
"No, you're the chilli powder." James calmly replied, pointing at the corresponding pot.  
"Will you both shut up and listen to Ralph?" Woody snapped, glaring at the younger werewolf.  
"... Woody, calm yourself." Will warned the elder werewolf before turning his attention to the other vampire in the room. "You were saying, Ralph?"  
"Yes, so... Kyle and James will break in through the back and make their way to Dan himself," Ralph continued as though he had not been interrupted at all, "meanwhile, Will and Woody will take on the grunts while Ed, Charlie and I find Mara and deal with any Bloodline members that approach us."  
"I'm scared... I still can't control my magic... What if it doesn't work?" Charlie mumbled, having settled himself with Luna on the floor, practically clinging to his canine familiar as his mind scurried and scraped through an unnatural number of hypothetical theories as his chest quietly dealt with his deep-seated pang of anxiety. That was until he felt his vampire's hand gently make contact with his knee and he found himself locking eyes with Ralph. He was so calm, collected, almost impossibly so, and yet, this still managed, just about, to reassure the witch and calm some of his fears. Some being the operative word as the vampire turned his attention back to the rest of the room and continued with his explanation.  
"Kyle if you stick close to James, you won't get hurt too badly, although it's very unlikely for anyone to be at the back end of the squat so... Just follow James' nose until you're able to find Dan. If that means our groups end up in the same spot, so be it." Outwardly, he had the confidence of a leader surrounding him but internally? Ralph was absolutely bricking it at the thought of having to face Mara again. She was his past, dangerous and unhappy... What was worse was that he knew that she might use her dominance as his Turner to finally bring him to heel after all of these years of being apart from her old plaything. No. No, he couldn't think of that now. He needed to appear strong and able for the group. One small crack in the facade would demolish everyone's confidence. One small break would keep Dan in Mara's clutches that little while longer as they figured out a newer, more airtight plan. If there was only more time. He swallowed down a sigh. "Will and Woody's role is purely to act as a distraction while you two and Charlie, Ed and myself to get in and find Dan and Mara."  
"Oh, so we're the canon fodder, are we?" Woody huffed, although his tone suggested it was a joke.  
"Unfortunately you and Will happen to be the strongest members of the group and happen to be the most experienced." Ralph retorted back, glancing over him.  
"Ralph... He understands why. He was joking." Will explained, making it clear that he was struggling to conceal his deep, impatient sigh.  
"Anyway!" James shouted.  
"Anyway," Ralph agreed, "Ed will stay with Charlie and I as a means of helping Charlie or protecting him while I deal with Mara." Ralph finally released his sigh and found that there was a sharp pain in his ribs. As much as he was prepared to save his friend, he was absolutely fucking distraught at the idea of having to face that wild, maddening woman again. "Right... So, do we all know what the plan is?" A pause as the group each made their non-verbal responses. "Good. Let's go."


	28. for they wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so the chaos begins

Night fell quickly, bleeding into the city with ease just as it had done every night that had been before. This night, however, was different; there was an anxiety in the air, a tension bubbling into the atmosphere that could only be felt by the seven makeshift heroes of the supernatural persuasion as they came closer to the lion's den. Each fraction of the group creeping toward their goal; Kyle and James struggling their way around the back while the other five watched the front of house with cautious eyes. This was where their leader found himself breathing deeply, heavily, to try and keep himself calm in the wake of coming face to face with the subject of his nightmares again. He felt a smaller hand grip his own and in response, Ralph gave his witch a twitch of a smile as some form of reassurance. Sensing the vampire's deep fear, Charlie decided to give him a sweet kiss on the cheek, one he had to stand on his toes a little in order to give, then squeezed at Ralph's hand.  
"It'll be alright." He whispered, trying, hard, not to sound as frightened as he looked. "The plan will work."  
"I hope so." Sighed the taller male, forcing himself to look at the house that stood intimidatingly on the other side of the road. Meanwhile, Woody and Will exchanged glances with the ghost that stood alongside them. The plan was shoddy, sure, but it was possible. It would work. It had to.  
"So..." Woody breathed, tensing his muscles just so he could have something to do. "Me and Will go first, yeah?"  
"Canon fodder." Will tried to joke, forcing up a smile as he, too, tried to hide his fear.  
"Battering ram." Ralph corrected, nodding some. "You two first, we'll follow close behind... Ed?"  
"Yes?" Replied the ghost, jumping at the mention of his name.  
"Stay damn fucking close to Charlie, do you understand me?" The vampire ordered. "I mean it. No matter what happens, you stay close to him."  
"Alright." Ed nodded, sniffing as he prepared himself for what else could be hidden behind the poorly painted blue doors of that house of horrors.  
"On three. One... Two..."

On the other side of the building, Kyle slowly followed the young werewolf down into the back garden, carefully climbing his way down a wall, falling the last measure from the wall to the ground with a muffled thud before turning to face James with a creased look of worry.  
"Now what?" He hissed, crouching with the werewolf behind an outdoor couch made mostly of wicker and peering over the top of it.  
"Now we wait for the distraction." James whispered, gripping at the back of the couch so tightly there was a threat it would break. "Then we walk in and go find your boyfriend."

Inside, things were much as they always were... Rituals running like clockwork while a newly bruised Daniel struggled to keep himself comfortable sat on the floor at Mara's feet. He was too tired to try and fight with her over the closeness anymore. Too weak to try and pull at the tether she had clasped tightly in her right hand, because he knew she'd only pull back harder, possibly give him a light love tap compared to the vicious beating he had received earlier that day after his escape attempt. The vampire supposed that she had warned him of the consequences and he toyed with the idea that, perhaps, he should have just done as he had been told. His mind argued that he was in the right to try his hand at the Great Escape but the pain, the beatings had conditioned his body into arguing otherwise. It reminded him of what had been done to him at the VTC, but he found himself too tired to ponder too much on the subject. Instead he watched as the deeply controlled vampires and their feeders continued with their happy affair wearing a light, confused sort of frown, shuddering as he felt Mara's cold hand made contact with the top of his head, stroking him as though he was her newest pet.  
"See? Easier this way, isn't it?" Mara mewed, letting her fingers drag against the back of Dan's neck, making the skin pimple against the cold, cold touch. "Not fighting... It's nice, hm?"  
"Yes, princess." Dan replied, an automatic response that he hadn't even blinked through, let alone thought about before releasing. At least his body was too weak now to give him that urge to gag and retch at the very idea of addressing the cult queen by the title she desired him to use anymore. He wouldn't have been able to deal with such an urge now, especially given the pain he was in. The exhaustion he was feeling had just forced his body to stay perfectly calm, even if there was hints of familiar scents hitting the air from somewhere...

**_Slam!_ **

And with the sound of breaking glass, the chaos began, prompting every vampire in the room to move, animatedly, either toward or away from the sound, depending on their size and cult ranking. Immediately, Dan felt a hard yank at his collar, forcing his weak body up and away from the situation, staggering as he tried to keep up with Mara toward (what she referred to as) the Throne Room. Confusion blinded and deafened him as the rummaging and cracking noises became screams, yelps and loud growls while the Bloodline subjects scattered and stampeded through the building like panicking ants trying to find a way back to the nest. It only got worse when he was thrown to the ground and was brought back to reality by the loud banging of a door being slammed shut.  
"... What's? What's happening?" He asked, blinking slowly as he struggled to sit upright. "Mara?"  
"Quiet! Quiet! Be fucking quiet!" She snapped, sounding like the madwoman she truly was as she locked the door behind her, yanking the ceremonial table across it as a sort of barricade. "I need to think. I need to make a plan. I need to... I need to..." She muttered some more, striding across the room to her 'throne' and dumping herself into the seat. She seemed... Frightened. Princess Mara was scared? Genuinely so? This only furthered Dan's confusion and, for some reason, a part of him felt sorry for her. Why? He didn't really understand why, all he knew was that the feeling was there and it had encouraged him to struggle to his feet and approach her.  
".... Princess?" He encouraged, thinking that perhaps the title might stir some sort of response in her.  
"Go away! Leave me be! I need time to think! I need to be left alone to think! Leave me alone!" Mara screeched at him as he tried to reach a hand to her shoulder. Immediately, he snatched it back before she could slap it away. She seemed so unhinged with fear in that moment it made Dan wonder if this was a police raid - something she had always been prepared for - or if it was something totally different... Possibly even something new; something she could never have prepared for. Could she smell something familiar too? 

He watched her for a moment or two as her eyes widened and her hands went straight into her hair and clawed at the strands that fell between her fingers, muttering to herself that it couldn't be true. An odd sort of smile appeared on her face; a manic, overly excited, child-like, wide smile appeared on her face, stretching it as far as the muscles would allow. So she could smell it... Ralph's scent.  
"He's home... He's here... Ralph's home! He's home!" Mara cried, pushing herself off the 'throne' and practically running toward the door. "Ralph is home!" 


	29. patiently for us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dan is reunited with kyle

In her impish, childish excitement, Mara had dropped the tether she'd once held so tightly around her fist, effectively releasing Dan, yanked the table away from the door and forced the door open before slipping through the crack. Dan, meanwhile, still confused and overwhelmed, scanned the room for any signs of life apart from his own and was surprised to find nothing more than the inanimate objects that littered the squarish room. The only sounds he could concentrate on was the crashing of violence outside the four walls and his own heartbeat. There were more recognisable scents in the air, but this only made the vampire believe that this whole ordeal was nothing more than a horrifically vivid dream. It all had to be nothing more than a Life On Mars-type vividly real dream that placed him firmly in the balance between life and death... Surely? But... Those smells. They were too real. He frowned, almost hurting himself in confusion. He could smell all of his friends. They were out there. He could smell Kyle, too.  
"No... No, no, no..." Breathed Dan, finding himself creasing over somewhat as he tried to fight his brain on the subject. "No, it can't be real. This isn't real... Just a dream. Yeah, just a dream. A _dream_!" The last word came out as a desperate sort of stretched out whimper. For whatever reason, he could not bring himself to believe that his current reality was, in fact, a reality. He was afraid, the kaleidoscope of violent sounds and overly familiar smells, alongside the flashing images he saw whenever he screwed his eyes shut overwhelmed him and rendered his body catatonic. It refused to move. It refused to try and pull the damn collar off or do, well, anything apart from collapse back onto the floor as he argued with himself some more and, out of pure frustration, cried. Shouldn't he be relieved that he was abandoned by the mad bitch in favour of her previous toy? Well, yes, but he should also absolutely distraught at the idea, too. If Ralph was really here then he was in danger. Real danger. Proper danger, the kind that may just demolish the other vampire's current life entirely. Every single strand that currently held Ralph's life intact would be ripped apart and thrown into the wind, never to be seen again. No more happiness. No more Charlie. No more of anything and all because of Dan. All because of his big fucking mouth. All because of Mara and her insane fucking cult digging their claws into Ralph's neck and dragging him, kicking and screaming, back into their circle; and what was Dan currently doing instead of trying to stop the mad bitch? Collapsing into a heap and crying like a child. He was so overwhelmed by his own thoughts and current bout of anxious guilt that he failed to notice how Kyle's scent seemed to grow stronger by the second until he felt his body being gently pulled into his feeder's chest.  
"Hey, hey... It's alright. It's okay... We're here now." Mumbled the human, pressing a kiss onto his vampire's head. "I'm here." Without hesitation, Dan grabbed at Kyle's shirt and tightly clung to him.  
"Don't leave me... Please don't! Don't go! Don't leave me!" He whined in between sobs, nuzzling himself as close as he physically could without the two of them toppling over. "Kyle, please! Don't let me wake up! Don't leave!"  
"It's alright, babe, it's alright... I'm not going anywhere. Not without you. Never without you." Kyle assured him, briefly exchanging worried glances with the young werewolf that was currently standing guard by the door before pressing another two kisses onto Dan's head. "I love you."  
"I love you, too. So much. Please don't let me wake up! I'm begging you!" Dan whined some more, screwing his eyes shut and tightening his grip on Kyle's thin shirt.  
"Hey, hey, hey! Hush-sh-sh... Take it easy, it's alright." Kyle continued soothing his vampire despite it, very clearly, not having much of an effect. "It's not a dream, I promise you. I'm still going to be here. I'm real. I'm here."  
For a short while, Dan was allowed to completely lose his composure into his feeder. Clinging to him, sobbing into his chest for what seemed like forever until his breathing calmed and he was making nothing more than sad little whimpering noises as he panted.  
"... Ralph... Someone find Ralph before she does..." He muttered, very slowly pulling back so that he could look Kyle straight in the eyes. "We need to find him."  
"James?" Kyle said, not daring to break eye contact with Dan as he addressed the wolf at the other end of the room.  
"On it." Nodded James, scrambling out of the door and into the chaos outside. 

Immediately, James had been forced to snap himself back up against a wall as Woody lobbed a now broken chair across the length of the hallway at a charging vampire. With a yawp, the brute of a man fell to the ground and found himself crushed by the chair. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the mess of people and violent clashes, Will was calmly avoiding punches by moving quickly, grabbing an arm, snapping it and throwing his assailant aside before moving on to another and Ed... Poor Ed looked on as the living fought each other, trying so hard not to glitch out of pure anxiety. James took a deep inhale of the air and tried to locate Ralph's scent somewhere in the air... Blood, no. Woody, no. Will, no. Charlie... Wait! If Charlie was here with Ed, zapping at any Bloodline member that approached them with his currently overly defensive magic then Ralph couldn't be, shouldn't be too far away. Without thinking twice, James threw himself into the mosh pit and rabbit-punched his way through the throng of people that tried to stop him from going anywhere near his target until he, eventually, got to the bottom of the stairs where Ed and Charlie were currently using as a vantage point.  
"... Charlie..." He breathed through a bloody nose, ignoring the way the deep red liquid dripped onto his shirt and stained the fabric; ignoring the purple-blue sparks as they flew from the witch's hand at a cult member somewhere over the werewolf's shoulder. "Charlie! Where did Ralph go? We found Dan! We need to get Ralph and get out of here! Now, while we still fucking can!"  
"He went upstairs to try and lure Mara away from everyone down here... I don't know what he's thinking but... You're right, we need to go and get him. Now." Ed spoke for the witch, who seemed much too terrified to say a damn word or do anything apart from automatically zap the opposing group.  
"Oh _fuck_!" Growled James, taking a deep breath before grabbing Charlie by the wrist and yanking him up the stairs, trying to keep his canine nose fixated on the male vampire's familiar smell. "Charlie, c'mon... Move. We need to get to Ralph before that mad cunt tears him apart!" He shouted over a loud smash as Woody apparently threw another grunt through a window somewhere on the ground floor.  
"... James..." Charlie's thoughts were barely in order as he tried to match the younger man's pace as they jogged down an upper floor's hallway. "James, it's part of his plan."  
"Yeah, well, the main part of the plan was to get Dan. We have Dan, now we need to get Ralph and then get the Hell out of this fucking nuthouse before she sinks her claws into him." James snipped, feverishly looking into various rooms, acting much like an actual bloodhound on the hunt for it's prey. "Or worse, the police get here..." His scrambled, quick trot immediately became a cautious pawing when he had finally located Ralph's scent at it's strongest and could hear the muffled voices of his acquired target and a female from the other side of a half-painted wooden door. "He's in there with her."


	30. oh how they always

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mara vs ralph

Despite every single cell in his body wincing at the very idea of looking at the female vampire that seemed elegantly delicate as she came to a confident halt some ways before him, Ralph swallowed down his fear and squared his shoulders. This was no time for a man to be a mouse; he had to stand his ground and make it damn clear that he wasn't here to come crawling back into her arms but to save his friend and tear his former abuser apart. He was here to end it. He had to - there couldn't be more victims, more bodies, more missing persons; enough was enough and if anyone had a right to end Princess Mara's reign, it absolutely was Ralph Pelleymounter. That was, of course, if he could figure a way around the many, many advantages she had over him. Experience, strength, biological ownership... She could hold those things over him, use the ability of hypnosis as a weapon in order to pull him right back into a more permanent version of his nightmares. He wouldn't let her, he couldn't let her take his entire freedom away again. Ralph had earned this freedom. Had earned the right to love who he truly loved. Had earned the right to be whoever he wanted to be and not what Mara had cruelly demanded and forced him to be. This particular male vampire had every damn right to be free of the cult and he would try, although this face off was like bringing a knife to a gun fight, he would try to decapitate it. She couldn't get away with all of her previous crimes; tricking his father into being forced to sell Ralph to her, abusing him, turning him, controlling him, trying to kill his former lover - now closest friend - and then capture him and use him as bait to lure Ralph back 'home'. She couldn't roam free as if she wasn't guilty. She couldn't; Ralph wouldn't allow it, no matter how terrified he was of her in this moment.  
"Oh Ralph... You're finally home." That sickeningly sweet smirk flickered across her face and her green eyes lit up. "It's so good to finally see you again."  
"I'd say the same, but I've hated you from the first second I laid eyes on you." He spat, his voice shaky but his tone strong and angry.  
"You look so well, darling." Mara apparently chose to ignore him, same as she always had whenever he had made his true feelings for her clear. "I've missed you... Come here, let me hold you." Her voice was soft, sweet, loving, everything she was not. Everything Charlie actually was. In response, Ralph immediately screwed his eyes shut, shook his head and tensed every muscle in his body. He wasn't going to let her creep into his head like a parasite again. No, not again. Never again.  
"No." He told her. " _No_!"  
"Ralph, my love-" She began.  
"Fuck you!" He shouted back. "You have no right to act like you ever loved me!"  
"... But I do love you, sweetheart." She sighed. Even with his eyes shut, Ralph could see the expression that matched the noise she made, the tone she had used. He could also sense that she had begun to slowly approach him and that, in turn, prompted him to desperately scratch backward a few steps, balling his hands into fists as he did so.  
"No, you don't!" Snapped the male vampire. "You don't have the fucking capacity to love anyone... Anything. Stay away from me!"  
"Ralph." Her tone became firm, causing a surge of flashbacks to attack him, making him sniff, hard, and tense until his body was shivering with pure rage. "Sweetheart, please. You're upsetting me, now."  
"I don't give a fuck!" He roared, opening his eyes so that she could witness the fact that his fury came from somewhere deep within his body. "You destroyed me... It took me years to piece myself together and move on from the shit you did to me. _Years_. Even the VTC couldn't do what you did to me and they're fucking notorious for torturing people. You couldn't love me, even if you knew what love was!"  
"All I did was care for you, darling, show you love... Give you a home, feed you, clothe you. I made you strong... I gave you everything you could have ever wanted." Mara argued, trying a second time to approach the frightened male, who, again, backed away from her.  
"I had everything I could have ever needed and you, you mad bitch, you took it all away from me." He argued, locking eyes with her. She seemed so hurt by his words that it was almost impossible to tell if it was genuine hurt or just another one of her masks. "You took away my mother. You forced my father away. You tried to kill my first love. Twice. You're trying to do it again, now, by trying to guilt me into staying here with you and forcing me to abandon everything that has ever made me happy."  
Mara glared at him, those green eyes beginning to show her anger now as she rushed him, forcing him up against the wall and grabbing his throat. Immediately, he grabbed at her arm with both hands and tried to yank her off of him as he fought for air and immediately closed his eyes in a bid to try and ignore her attempt to soothe him in to obedience with hypnosis. He knew her tricks. He knew her - and knew her well. Fear fuelled him just as much as his rage did and if it hadn't been for the sharp smack across the face distracting him from his fight, he would have won this struggle. He would have been freed of her grip and he could beat her right back. However, the shock of the hard, fierce slap against his cheek overwhelmed his body with anxiety and rendered him wide-eyed at her sheer audacity to do such a thing.  
"There, there, darling... You calm down." She whispered, gently placing her hand against his face; a soft smile appearing as her eyes went that all too familiar pale colour as she began using the illegal ability on him.  
"I... Hate... You." He managed as he struggled to keep control of his mind and body, finding it difficult now that his body had totally betrayed him and completely relaxed. "I _hate_ you, Mara."  
"Hush, Ralph, sweetheart... It's alright." Soothed the female, her smile stretching when he was finally still before standing on her toes so that she could place a kiss on his forehead. "You're home, now, darling. Safe and sound. Hold me." As much as a section of his mind wanted to fight and argue some more with his body, it continued to betray him and obeyed her instead, slowly and gently wrapping his arms around her smaller frame. "I've missed you, my love... It's good to have you back with us again."


	31. always wait for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> enough is enough

Within his rib cage, Ralph could feel the surge of hatred and self-loathing disgust form into one big knot and smack against his chest, hard. He wanted so much to let go of the dark-haired vampiress that had settled herself against him but not one of the signals he had sent to his body had worked. They had been blocked by the trance's commanding dominance over him and it made him feel so... Powerless; emasculated. He felt as if he was drowning, suffocating in this room as he allowed his worst nightmare to nuzzle into his shoulder before she had changed her mind and decided to kiss his neck, then his jaw, then, finally, pushed a deep kiss onto him. Mara tasted how she had always tasted; bitter. Salty. Unpleasant. He couldn't do anything about it, he could only stand there and let her kiss him when all he wanted to do in that moment was either throw up or run away. Running would only complicate his situation, though. Make her angry, make it more of a violent struggle between them and that would only result in one of them losing a life and he sure as thunder came after lightning wasn't going to let Mara take him down with her... Perhaps, for right now, until someone came to find him, rescue him, his tactic should be to just let things happen as they did? Lull her into a false sense of security, make her believe that she was seeping deeper into his blood again. Just for now. Just for as long as was required of him to do so. That would work, right? He grimaced, his head pounding violently, angrily, painfully as it fought with the trance, his heart constricted, his muscles tensed... This was agony. Was it always agony? He couldn't concentrate long enough to remember anything anymore.  
"Ralph?" Fuck, she had noticed his pained expression. What would happen now? His eyes scanned Mara's, looking for any hint of rage within them. There was always something. Always; seeping in through the borders of her irises and consuming everything else that could ever be within them. It was liking watching a storm brewing in the distance, it would come... It would, he just needed that hint, that flicker, that dangerous flash of dark green bleeding into the currently pale green. "What's wrong, darling?"  
"... Nothing." He lied, coughing the word up. "I'm. I'm fine..." The words were there, forming at the tip of his tongue. He knew exactly what would soothe her, would make her forget what was even distracting her in that moment but he couldn't bring it up without some force and it was painful. Ralph was now desperate to have one of the others, whether from his trench or from Mara's, to burst into the room and interrupt them. It felt like he was hanging onto a ledge while Mara's blue suede heels slowly crushed his fingers; like he was about to skydive without a parachute. The only thing that kept his mind at war with itself, that kept him from just giving into her as easily as those hypnotic eyes wanted him to, was the thought of Charlie. He was the person who loved him, who needed him the most. He was the one who would want Ralph to keep pushing back at Mara the way he was trying so desperately to do... He was the one who was currently somewhere on the other side of the door with James and whose scent was dribbling into the room through the cracks in the frames and the walls. Charlie owned his heart, not Mara. Charlie. Charlie. _Charlie_. The name, the flashes of soft moments with his witch, the pounding in his chest made him fight more. "Get away from me."  
"Excuse me?" Sniped the princess, that gentle hand that had been against the cheek now gripping tightly at Ralph's throat.  
"Get... Away from... Me." Choked the male vampire, screwing his eyes shut and starting to violently yank himself away from her. The grip tightened and he was given a hard smack for his efforts but it didn't stop him from continuing with his struggle this time. He kept fighting. He kept his eyes tightly shut and kept struggling against her, one hand squeezing at her wrist while the other blindly tried to push her body away from him.  
"Ralph, behave!" She growled. "Behave!" The word alone didn't work, she needed the eye contact and without it, her weapon was totally powerless and this frustrated her more. She screamed the word another two times, striking Ralph a few more times, making him wince as he felt her nails cut into his cheek but he pursued in his attempt at fighting anyway. It took most of his strength but he managed to push her back and, taking her off guard, it made her lose her grip on him and fall; collapsing into a heap onto the bear wooden floor.  
"You don't own me!" Ralph spat, swaying as he prepared himself to fight her blind. He heard her get up and he instinctively moved away, hoping that he was moving toward the door.  
"Oh, I think you'll find that I do." She hummed, pushing her hair out of her face and squaring her tiny body; bracing it for the impact she wanted to make against the taller, broader male vampire. "As soon as your father left you with me in Leeds, you were _mine_."  
With that, she ran and collided into him. While Mara clawed, yanked and beat him, Ralph moved defensively, keeping himself blind and swinging wild punches as soon as he sensed an opening and, just about, managing to beat her right back a few times. 

In the hallway, on the other side of the door, James and Charlie heard every scream, growl and pained grunt that came from the two vampires inside the room. Without thinking, the witch decided to lunge forward and break through the door, crashing through it and skidding into the room to find the princess straddling his vampire, pinning him to the ground as she choked him and he fought, desperately, against her.  
"Charlie, no! You'll be killed!" James barked, sprinting into the room after him. In his fury, and with one hand, Charlie used his magic to fly the werewolf back, making him bounce against the wall and flop to the floor. Winded but still conscious, James struggled to sit upright. "... Charlie! Fuck... _Shit_! ... She'll fucking kill you before you could..."  
Mara, angered by the disruption, abandoned Ralph for the moment and faced the little witch that dared to interrupt her as she punished her plaything. She ignored the wolf boy at the other side of the room, because he was, as far as she was concerned, already out for the count and fixated her angry glare at Charlie instead. He was the one to have stolen Ralph's love away from her and she was going to get rid of him before going back to beating Ralph into submission. A quick snap of the neck, a deep cut to the jugular and the witch would be dealt with, she had already calculated her movements against him.  
"Oh you're a little firecracker aren't you?" A smile spread across her face; manic, just as her thoughts were, with fire in her eyes, the same as there was in Charlie's.  
"Fuck you." Spat the witch, bringing one of his hands up, the magic strong and vibrant as it swirled around his fingers, patiently waiting for it's enraged user to set it free and let it attack.  
She cackled, straightening out her dress as she took overconfident steps toward him. "Charlie says... Never use bad language in front of royalty."  
"Fuck you." Charlie spat again, clenching his other hand into such a tightly bound fist that he could feel his nails dig and cut into his pale palm.  
"You're pathetic, just like every man." Mara giggled, making a show of rolling her eyes at him. This wasn't her first fight against a witch and she was much stronger than her small build made her out to be. Not only that, she was experienced in being what she was while Charlie... His magic was acting on the impulse of his emotions and was only strong now because of his pure, white-hot hatred toward her. "Difference is, you're a lot weaker than all of the other men I've managed to bring to their knees. I'll kill you in a breath, a blink and have Ralph back in my arms before dawn."  
"... Charlie..." Ralph's weak breathing struggled into the air, making the witch break eye contact with the princess for a moment as he watched his lover struggle to sit up. He was bleeding profusely, already bruised in places, spitting excess blood and breathing heavily, painfully through his mouth. He was hurt, frightened. "Baby... Please..."  
"He's mine." Mara stole the witch's attention back, taking another step or two closer to him. "And now, so is Dan... Maybe once I've killed you, I'll kill your human friend so Dan can't try running away again. Without either of you, _my_ boys have no reason to try and fight or escape anymore. They'll be free to be stay here with me."  
"Charlie..." Another weak plea came from the wolf at the other end of the room. "Charlie, listen to me. She'll fucking kill you."  
"Oh what a clever doggy!" Beamed Mara, swiftly moving around the witch so that she could approach James. She crouched to his level and facetiously offered the back of her hand to him. "Is he yours? He's so cute!" She added more salt to James' wound by petting him, pushing a hand through his dark hair but he could do no more than growl angrily in response. Charlie's magic had rendered him too weak to do much of anything else. "He isn't very friendly... But Ralph and I can train that out of him."  
With a flick of Charlie's hand, Mara was flung across the room, pounding a dent into the wall before she fell to the ground. "Don't touch my friends." He snarled making a squeezing action with his hand that his magic understood to be a command to squeeze the air out of the princess' body. "Ralph isn't yours."  
"Mine." Despite the fact she had to choke the word out, Mara grinned at him, effectively poking the bear just that little bit harder. "He... Loves... Me."  
"No!" Screamed the witch, flinging the vampire across the room, making another dent in another wall.  
"Charlie." Ralph's voice distracted the witch and made him fall to the spot next to him, scrambling to his vampire and desperately snuggling into him. "... I love you."

Before there was even a breath of a reply, a hand grabbed Charlie by the scruff of the neck and threw him aside. Once he was aware of his surroundings again, the witch found himself face to face with Mara and it was then that he understood exactly why she haunted poor Ralph's nightmares. He was smacked, twice, kicked until he was lying, creased up, on his side then he felt her force his head into the dust that kept the floorboards a murky grey colour. He groaned and struggled, zapping at her a few times, which gave him either another smack or another hard kick to the ribs as reward for his efforts.  
"You and Dan... You took my sun, my life... I broke Dan, so I can keep him... I'll break you, too." Mara hissed. "But I'll break you until your breathing stops."  
"Mara... Let him go." Ralph's strained breathing followed by a slow scraping noise told the witch that his vampire was now stood up. "Leave him be."  
"I'll get to you, later, my love." Replied Mara, ignoring Charlie for just a second as she backhanded Ralph with such force that he toppled over and collapsed back onto the floor. This, in turn, surged a second wind of rage within the little witch and with every ounce of energy he had left, he bolted himself upright and automatically flicked his magic at the princess.  
She was twisted into a localised hurricane made of Charlie's purple-blue and black magic, forced to hover three feet above the ground and quickly consumed by the inky substance it had become. Once every inch of her was suitably covered, Charlie, consumed by his enraged magic, squeezed his hand shut, causing Mara to scream out a gasp for air as the substance crushed her rib cage and her bones pierced her organs, the sound of crunching bones making James wince and cover his ears, then threw his hand open, making everything within the inky magic explode. After the bang and as a mixture of ash, torn fabric and blood snowed at the centre of the room, leaving nothing of the vampire princess whole, the witch collapsed forward, unconscious, a steady stream of blood coming from his nose. 

"... Shit." Breathed James, scrambling to his friends.  
"Charlie!" Strained Ralph, crawling to his witch and pulling him upright; pulling him as close to his body as was allowed. "... Baby."


	32. if my fear has kept me here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finally away from the bloodline squat, the group stop to talk about their next step

"Fucking Hell." Breathed James when the group had eventually come to a stop, struggling a little as he tried to maintain his balance and adjust the weight of Charlie's limp body against his back. "Any longer and we would have been caged."   
As if on cue, the distant wail of police sirens echoed through the air as the vans burst through the streets to get to the Bloodline squat, emphasising the youngest werewolf's point and making the eldest werewolf sigh.  
"Where's Kyle?" Will asked, scanning the immediate area for any sign of the human.  
"... Here! I'm here!" Panted Kyle, struggling to lift himself upright and give his friend a weary sort of wave. "Jesus... Even sprinting I can't keep up with you guys."  
"We'll give you a minute to catch your breath, then... But the second you're able to breathe properly again, we have to get out of here." Woody gave him a nod then adjusted the vampire on his back. "Dan... Dan, mate? You good back there, bud?"  
A weary groan in response followed immediately by a weak, croaky; "'M fine."  
"Ralph?" Will cut through to the centre of the group and approached the other weakened vampire. "Are you alright?"  
"Yeah... Yeah." Came the response. Although, if truth be told, Ralph had no idea what was going on with him. He didn't know neither what to feel nor how to feel it. Besides that, he was struggling with the burning sensation in his lungs and had to force up a succession of harsh coughs in a bid to try and make it stop. Right now? All he cared about was getting his witch home, safe and sound, and away - far, far away from here.  
"Are you sure?" Will pushed and because he rarely ever pushed on any subject, it was clear that he was worried. "I can carry you, I don't mind."  
"I'm all right, Will." Ralph sniped, without really meaning to snipe, then sighed and rubbed a hand against his face. "It's okay... Honestly, I'm fine."  
"You don't look fine." Ed's voice came out of nowhere, just as the ghost had, appearing in the middle of the two vampires. "I think you should let Will help you."  
"Nobody asked you!" Snapped the vampire.  
"Ralph!" Will's voice roared and rang in his ears. "He was trying to be helpful."  
Ralph sighed, took a moment to glare at Will then turned his attention back to the ghost. "... I'm sorry... Ed, I'm sorry."  
"Don't worry about it." The ghost assured him, shrugging some. "I just thought, y'know, since you're not exactly in top form, either, maybe it'd be a good idea for Will to help you get home?"  
"We can't go home yet." A sad whine came out of the vampire.  
Will raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"  
"We need to take Dan and Charlie to a healer witch." Ralph elaborated. "A hospital would be... Too obvious."   
"I suppose, but the only other witch I know of is Sophie." Will sighed, deciding then to run a hand up the back of his head.  
"Oh no, we aren't going to her!" James barked, taking some time to spit at the floor. "I'm not going to someone who thinks a derogatory term is perfectly okay to use because one of her friends is one. Nah. We need to find someone else."  
"Oh?" Replied, Ralph squaring up to the younger man. "And who do you think we should ask for help? Your alpha?"   
"Ralph..." Will's tone of warning went unheard.  
"What would he do? Finish me and Dan off, probably, right?" Ralph's growl was matched by James' own one.  
"Enough!" Roared Will, making a point of standing between them. "Right now? What we need to do is to go home. I'll have Sophie - yes, James, Sophie - meet us at Dan and Kyle's... It's the closest place. She'll be bound to have a healer witch in her coven, she can bring them over."  
"... Fine." Spat Ralph. "Let's go. Let's take them home."


	33. only my fear can set me free

**and i'm sorry, dear**  
It felt good to be in their bed again; to be alone together again. To embrace the quiet and the still darkness of the room around them while the vampire held his witch and the witch clung to his vampire, nuzzling gently into him as closely as the other male's body would allow him to. It felt good to have nothing to worry about but how tightly Charlie's fingers gripped into his shirt and giving in to the urge to place a gently pressed kiss against the witch's head. Calm, that's how Ralph felt now that he was safe. Calm, now that his friends were safe. Calm, now that Charlie was safe. Calm, now that he was safe... Safe from the past, since his witch had literally obliterated the only threat of it reanimating and trying, again, to drag him back to his personal circle of Hell. He was, for all intents and purposes, free, finally, from that part of his life and he was completely safe to live his life as a regular vampire again. No more looking over his shoulder. No more worrying about an older Bloodline grunt possibly recognising him as he passed them. No more Superior Bloodline... Just Charlie. Just their friends. Just their future; and that allowed Ralph to try out a happy smile for the first time in a long time. In what felt like forever.  
He breathed slowly, deeply, doing his best to try and decipher whether or not Charlie was asleep or simply resting there against his chest. He daren't say anything if the witch was finally, blissfully, asleep, in fear of interrupting whatever peaceful dreams he may be enjoying, but if he was awake, Ralph would have three, quiet little words to tell him before they both could fall into a deep, uninterrupted sleep and pretend that the last few months hadn't happened. Just for a little while. As if he knew what was on his vampire's mind, Charlie showed him that he was, in fact, awake by shuffling himself somewhat so that they ended up locking eyes. Charlie offered him a smile; a tired one but it was still a happy one, a contented one, and that encouraged Ralph to mimic and mirror the action.  
"I love you." He sighed, placing a hand against his witch's face, rubbing a thumb against the cheekbone a few times before pulling him into a deep kiss.  
"... I love you, too." Breathed Charlie as they parted, making a point of gently nuzzling his nose against Ralph's.  
"Thank you." It came out intentionally, but the very fibre of Ralph's core had wanted to say it from the second he saw Mara's body turn to ash. If it hadn't been for Charlie saving him like that, then... No. No, he wasn't going to think about the alternate to this now happy existence. He was free. He had Charlie. Dan was safe. That was it, that was all he wanted to think about; happiness, freedom.  
"What for?" A sleepy blink indicated that Charlie wasn't entirely part of the conversation.  
"For saving me." Ralph told him, the honesty in his tone pure but painful. He could feel himself welling up.  
Instead of responding verbally, Charlie decided to shuffle up a bit (as much of a struggle as that was for him) so that he could reach without stretching then kissed his vampire, soothing him into silence.  
Ralph was free.  
They were safe.

 **but don't you dare speak another word**  
Elsewhere, in their own home, another vampire and his feeder were snuggled up against one another on the sofa. Kyle was busying himself with soothing Dan, stroking a spot at the back of his vampire's neck, his eyes patiently watching him as he took the occasionally struggled breath and fighting with the temptation to lean over and kiss him. Dan was comfortable with his head in Kyle's lap, staring, if a little blankly, at the television, half-watching whatever show was on the screen and Kyle wasn't going to ruin something that made them both so content. Besides, it was nice to have a moment so quiet and still between them after everything that had happened. It was nice to be able to just sit there, together, and enjoy each other's company.  
"Kyle?" Dan's voice was childlike as he spoke up; soft and somewhat frightened, the human noted.  
"Yes, darlin'?" Hummed Kyle, still stroking that spot at the back of his vampire's neck. It wasn't just to comfort Dan, anymore, it was comforting to Kyle too. Especially now. It comforted him to be able to touch his vampire again at all, let alone in such a gentle, loving manner. A whiles ago, he would have thought it impossible to have been able to do it again and so, now, he was determined to never stop showing Dan that he loved him without having to say the words over and over and risk having the meaning be completely lost due to being so weathered. "Are you hungry?"  
"Well, yeah... But," Dan paused, frowned a little then snuggled himself that little bit further into his human, "that's not what I wanted."  
"Were you just making sure that I was real?" The question would seem a little insensitive to anyone outside of the couple but it was a valid one. Dan struggled to tell fact from fiction due to how his mind was fracturing a little at the edges because of what he had endured recently and his memories of the VTC beginning to blur into one. He wanted, desperately, to have confirmation that this was reality and not just a day dream he had concocted in order to cope with whatever torture was happening. He wanted to have Kyle confirm that this was, indeed, the correct reality and then soothe him. "I'm real, babe. I'm here with you and you're safe."  
At first there wasn't a verbal reply from the vampire, just a tight squeeze against Kyle's thigh followed by a hard, squeak of a sniff as he tried to keep his composure before he cleared his throat and mumbled something under his breath.  
"I can't hear you, baby." Kyle told him gently, patting his vampire's shoulder.  
"I'm sorry... I love you. Don't leave me." The words were desperate.  
"I love you, too." Kyle told him, deciding then that it would be a good idea to reach over and kiss Dan's cheek.  
"Don't leave me." Dan repeated, sounding a little panicked now.  
"Hey, hey, hey... It's alright, love. I'm not going anywhere." Kyle assured him, giving him a firmer kiss.  
"Promise? You promise me that you're not going to just disappear?" Dan begged, his grip on Kyle's thigh tightening.  
"I promise you, Dan, that I'm not going anywhere." Kyle told him. "You just take it easy, okay? Rest a bit."  
"I love you." Dan whined, finally loosening his grip on his human.  
"... You said you were hungry... Would you like to... Y'know...?" Kyle's thought trailed off as he shuffled a little in a bid to try and encourage his vampire to sit up for a moment or two. "Do you want some?"  
Dan hesitated. "If that's okay?" He whimpered, struggling a little as he slowly sat upright.  
"Of course it is." Replied Kyle, smiling softly at him. "Here, darlin'. Take it from this arm." He added, offering his left arm.  
Without a word, Dan gratefully took his feeder's arm, took a moment to kiss a spot then bit into the skin.  
The sharpness of the bite made Kyle wince but once Dan had relaxed as he fed, so did he and allowed himself into move a little closer to him.  
"It'll be okay." He promised, watching his vampire take desperate gulps of his first fresh meal in weeks. "It'll be alright." 

**how could i risk holding your heart in me**  
Having quietly closed the door behind him, James found himself locking eyes with the other cuckoo in Ralph and Charlie's nest and, if rather awkwardly, they shared a reassuring sort of smile. It was odd, not totally being alone in a room now, but at least he had someone to watch university challenge with. Silver linings and all that, right? Well, it was more of a silver glow now that the dust had settled and he was alone in a room with the ghost. Was it the spectre or just how his mind wanted to perceive the moment after the hurricane that had passed over their group the last few months? He wasn't going to stop and think it over too much. Instead, the werewolf would shuffle around, find himself a drink and a packet of biscuits...  
"Oh bollocks." He muttered, frowning at the empty biscuit barrel before dropping it back onto the counter. "I still forgot the biscuits."  
"There's plenty of other food." Ed encouraged, popping out of nowhere.  
"Don't do that!" Barked James, tightening his hands into fists.  
"Sorry." Replied the ghost, looking rather sheepish as he released the word.  
"It's okay... Just please don't do that again, alright?" James told him, deciding to keep his hands occupied by going into the fridge to find something of value to him. "You almost gave me a fucking heart attack."  
"It's hard, y'know, breaking a habit you're accustomed to." Ed argued, shrugging some. "Especially after taking so long to get used to it... But, uhm, I'll try my best to walk instead of pop from now on."  
"Thank you," James sighed, pausing his perusing of the fridge to give the ghost a look, "Jesus Christ, they never have anything good in here."  
"They would have done, if you didn't eat all of it." The ghost told him. "Also, those jelly pots are good."  
"... I can't eat jelly." The werewolf clapped back. "Gelatin... Let's see here, which kind..." He added for dramatic effect, facetiously grabbing at one of the red pots and scrutinising the label for an agonisingly long time. "Beef gelatin. Oh, what's this? I should have known! No green V!"  
"I didn't know you were vegetarian, Jesus, stop with the dramatics!" Ed sniped, wildly throwing one of his hands into the air.  
"You've been here long enough to know that by now." James replied, now back in his normal tone, throwing the pot back into the fridge.  
"I was more focused on Charlie than your teenage temper tantrums, to be fair." Said the ghost, glaring at the back of the werewolf's head.  
"I'm twenty-six." James snorted.  
"You act like you're fifteen." Ed retorted, a little harshly.  
"Shut up, Swayze." Was the rather weak comeback, which made Ed roll his eyes.  
"Here, look, on the door shelf. There's a bag of Magic Stars."  
"Oh? Oh!" A little excited at the prospect of being able to scoff an entire back of chocolate to himself, James snatched the navy blue bag off of the door shelf, slammed the fridge shut and moved back to the counter. "I wish there was more to eat."  
"You can get more, tomorrow then, can't you?" Ed suggested. "In lieu of rent... And for eating all of their food."  
"I mean... Yeah. That's what I was doing when I ran into Dan and then things got a bit, I don't know, out of hand." James sighed before taking a swig of his pineapple juice.  
"Yeah, well, tomorrow, you go shopping for the whole flat." Ed told him, as if he were the secondary surrogate parent to the emotionally unstable werewolf. "In your collar, or you'll never hear the end of it from Ralph."  
"Oh, not you, too!" Whined the werewolf, exasperated that the conversation had come back to his new, collarless life.  
"Yes, me too! I get why you don't want to wear it, I do, but you have to wear it or you'll get arrested!" Argued the ghost. "What would you rather? Be a free man or caged for the rest of your life because you couldn't follow the law for a little while?"  
Instead of responding, James moved back into the living room and set his glass down on the coffee table before dumping himself on the sofa.  
"That's what I thought." Ed mumbled, making a conscious effort to walk as he followed James. "I don't care what this Paul says, not wearing that collar will have you in deeper shit than anything you'd do whilst wearing it. You know that. Why do you think Ralph and Woody got so irate with you about it?"  
"You don't know Paul." James muttered, tearing open the bag of chocolate then switching the channel on the television.  
"You're right, I don't... But how do we know - how do you know that he isn't just another version of Mara?" Ed's question burned a little in the back of James' brain. He couldn't be. No, Paul wasn't like that. Paul was different. He wanted equality, proper equality for werewolves, not for werewolves to overrun humans and take over like how Mara and the Superior Bloodline vampires had wanted to. They were Uncollared, not Superior. Paul wasn't a madman, hellbent on getting what he wanted... Right? Right.  
"He isn't anything like Mara." James sniped, putting a handful of Magic Stars into his mouth.  
"... I have a feeling that Ralph would have said something similar about Mara when he was part of Bloodline all that time ago." Ed sighed. "Just... Please, listen to us, okay? When you're at the pack's clubhouse, den, whatever the fuck it is, or here, or somewhere you know you won't get caught, fine, take it off, walk around neck naked... But... Out there, where humans are going to tear you apart, please just wear the collar. For your sake."  
"If I say fine, are you going to promise that you're going to get Ralph and Woody to stay frosty on the subject?" James had decided to offer as a negotiation.  
"I'll do my best, that's all I can guarantee." Ed assured him.  
"And you don't follow me to the den." James added as a last minute condition.  
"I can't hide myself from you, what makes you think I can hide myself from them?" Sighed the ghost, exasperated. The living really did need a proper educational crash course on the dead.  
"Alright... Fine. Fine. I'll wear the stupid collar out in public." James sighed, finally relenting to the request.  
"Thank you... We just don't want you to end up in a cage, is all." Ed explained, if rather condescendingly.  
"I know. I get it." James replied, if rather angrily.

**while still in love with her?**   
_Breaking news now, on Channel One, and it seems as if the police have found and raided the headquarters of the elusive vampire group known as Superior Bloodline. Their leader has not been found, but it is rumoured that she has died, following an attack on the group earlier this evening. The police are still on the scene and have made multiple arrests. We will keep you updated on any further-_

Silence fell over the room as Paul turned off the television. The only noise that was even audible was the hum the battered old television in the corner of the room made before, suddenly, a crash erupted around the room as the werewolf became irate and threw the remote at the screen. The screen broke as soon as the remote made impact withe the glass, making a loud bang as the internal workings of the box sparked and blew out while Paul screamed angrily at it.  
"Fucking Hell!" He shouted into the empty room. "She was my kill! _My_ kill!" The tirade continued, with the uncollared alpha stomping around his private quarters, tearing the room apart in a pure, blinded rage. He had been the one who wanted to enact his revenge on the vampire princess. He had been the one who wanted to rip her pretty little head off of those shoulders and yet... He had, obviously, been denied that chance. Now all he had was his other plans, but without getting closure, that sweet revenge against Mara? Paul didn't want to be fuelled on anything but his violent rage. She had taken his wife, his child. She had taken everything from him and now... He couldn't bring her to justice himself. Now his revenge would have to be enacted against whomever had killed her. Now he wanted to tear apart the person who killed his prey; and the last person he had talked to about Mara? James.  
"No, he's a streak of piss. He wouldn't have been able to do it..." Paul muttered to himself, taking deep, panting breaths as he finally cooled a little. "He knows a witch. A witch could have killed her... Arthur! Get the fuck in here!"  
As if by magic, the named werewolf appeared in the doorway. He was shaky, fearful, but who wouldn't be in the presence of their alpha?  
"You, uh, you alright, Paul?" Asked the younger werewolf, trying his best to look tough.  
"Get on the blower with James. Get him to meet me here tomorrow morning... Tell him it's important." Paul ordered.  
Without reply, Arthur disappeared back into the den proper, pulling out his phone as he did so.  
**James.**  
**Paul wants to see you in the morning.**  
**Come to the den for 10. **  
**Artie.** ****

********

********

**_you were wrong._ **


End file.
